The Runaway Case
by WanderingAngel97
Summary: Max ran away from home, or at least that's what the police are saying. But Fang doesn't think so. There's something not quite right about this case, and there's something fishy going on in this little Arizona town. Fang is determined to get to the bottom of this. even if it costs him his life. Rated "T" for violence, language, and some kissy-kissy scenes, MAJOR FAX! ALL HUMAN
1. Chapter 1

The Runaway Case

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey everybody! This is my first fanfic so please bear with me. And if you love it please review and tell me what you think. If you hate it, I'm sorry, and please don't hate on me.  
I'm gonna just work on one story at a time with maybe a few short stories written in between here and there because I read fanfiction and I know if I start writing multiple stories at once, they will become very confusing and I don't want to do that to you guys so let's...  
****BFF:**** Hey, what about me?  
****Me:**** Oh, yeah, guys this is my BFF, she is awesome and super into mushy gushy romantic stuff.  
****BFF:**** Hey everybody! *waves enthusiastically*  
****Me:**** BFF is based off of my actual BFF, she's not actually real  
****BFF:**** Excuse me?  
****Me:**** Nothing...  
****BFF:**** Did you just say I wasn't real?  
****Me:**** Well, you are a figment of my imagination. You're all in my head.  
****BFF:**** Just because something's in your head doesn't mean it isn't real.  
****Me:**** Did you just quote Albus Dumbledore?  
****BFF:**** Yes.  
****Me:**** My real BFF wouldn't do that, she doesn't read or watch Harry Potter.  
****World:**** *shocked silence*  
****Me:**** But I still love her anyway, but see what I mean? She'd never say that, therefore BFF must be a figment of my imagination and ergo, not real.  
****BFF:**** *death glare*  
****Me:**** Please, don't hurt me! *hides*  
****BFF:**** If I wasn't real you wouldn't be scared of me hurting you!  
****Me:**** *grumbles* Fine, u win.  
****BFF:**** Yay! I won the bet! I beat you in an argument! So do Max and Fang get to make out now?  
****Me:**** Yeah...  
*Max and Fang make out*  
****BFF:**** *squeals happily*  
****Me:**** But can I still hit Dylan over the head with a baseball bat? *Bambi eyes*  
****BFF:**** Yes, of course! *smiles wickedly*  
****Dylan:**** No! Please-  
****Me: *****Beat him over the head with a baseball bat happily***

**BFF:**** Since she's busy right now, I'll say it for her. WanderingAngel97 does not own Maximum Ride or any of the characters in it, J.P. does.**

**Me:**** I wish I did! I'd fix it to where Fang never left!**

**Max:**** I'd like that.**

**Fang:**** Me too.**

**BFF:**** However, she does this plot line.  
****Me:**** And you too, BFF!**

**BFF:**** You don't own me.**

**Me: ****Yes I do! And there's nothing you can do about it!  
**-  
Fang's POV

Fang couldn't help but smile as he walked to school. The thought of himself smiling almost made him laugh. _This definitely belongs in Ripley's Believe It Or Not._ Well, actually it wasn't too hard to believe that he was smiling; He had been with Max after school yesterday, walking home from school together like they always did. They had been holding hands, which wasn't really weird because they were dating, but for some reason everybody else thought it was. Imagining it now, he could almost feel her hand in his.

Everybody always stared at him when he was with Max. He was the emotionless brick wall, the silent emo kid, but when he was with Max, he was different. He felt more like himself, he wasn't afraid of what anyone might think, he wasn't concerned at all for his rep. _What rep? Who cares what they think? _When he was with Max, the world stopped. Time slowed down and fast-forwarded at the same time. Nothing could bring him down from the high he got from being with her. She was like sunshine, warm and radiant, light and beautiful. Sun-streaked hair, beautiful chocolate eyes, pale glowing skin, Max looked like an angel from heaven.

He remembered yesterday as if it had just happened. Fang led her down to the park, she was smiling at him. Max might seem all sweet and cuteness in this memory, but in reality she was one bada$$ split-fire. She was witty, smart, brave, and good in a fight. Good in a fight as in kick your butt to next Tuesday, good in a fight.

They sat down at a park bench, and Max sat in his lap. Normally she wouldn't do that, being fiercely independent and all so this surprised Fang, but pleasantly so. She then turned to him and kissed him. **(A/N BFF: Awwwwww! Me: Way to completely ruin the moment. BFF: OMG! You liked that didn't you?! Me: *mumbles* No I didn't. BFF: You sooooo did! Me: Did not! BFF: Did too! Me: Back to the story!)** Fang kissed her back and she moaned softly, this only encouraged him more and he deepened the kiss. He remembered hearing a few kids scream out "ewwwwww!" from the playground. Then they broke the kiss, but their faces stayed close to one another's. He'd forgotten the playground was there. _Oops._ He smiled. _A few years from now they won't think so._ Max stared into his eyes, his black eyes, and he stared back into hers. "I love you Maximum Ride." He found himself whispering to her, using her full name, because he loved all of her. Her eyes widened, and then she smiled leaning in and kissing him. This earned a few more ewwwww's from the kids. Max deepened the kiss. He moaned and held her closer to him, shutting his eyes. She broke away for a second. "I love you too Fang." she smiled.

Now Fang felt as light as an air balloon thinking about it. Max had said she loved him. _She loved him._ If they weren't so young he would have gotten down on one knee right there and asked her to marry him. But they were still in high school. He sighed, this was one of those times where time seemed to slow to a crawl. _I swear the moment we graduate I'm gonna ask her to marry me._ He thought to himself. _It's only a year and a half._

-

**Me:**** So what'd ya think?  
****BFF:**** I thought it was awesome! Lots of kissing!  
*Dylan wails in background*  
****Me:**** Oh dear, he woke up.  
****BFF:**** Can I do the honors?  
****Me:**** Of course!  
*hands BFF baseball bat to BFF*  
****Dylan:**** Oh, please, not again!  
*BFF hits him with baseball bat*  
****BFF:**** FAX—*hits* FOR— *hits* EVER!*hits*  
****Dylan:**** Umm...ouch?  
****Me:**** *facepalm* I really need to teach you how to hit.  
****BFF: ****I know how to hit!  
****Me:**** You hit him three times with a baseball bat and didn't put a scratch on him.  
****BFF:**** But your still scared of me  
****Me:**** No I'm not  
****BFF:**** *growls*  
****Me:**** yikes! *runs away*  
****BFF:**** Oops, I better go get her  
****Dylan:**** Ya think?  
****BFF:**** *death glare*  
****Dylan:**** *cowers*  
****Me:**** Please review! *whispers from nearby bush***


	2. Chapter 2

**Me:**** Hey guys, I'm still hiding from BFF. *whispering***

**BFF:**** Wandering?!**

**Me:**** *ducks behind bush***

**BFF:**** Where are you Wander? *spots Wandering***

**Me:**** Got to go! Oh, by the way, I don't own MR, Starbucks, or Smashburger's Smashfries. *runs off***

**BFF:**** *chases after Wander* Come back here!**

Fang's POV

He walked up to the school and glanced around. Max always waited outside for him, but strangely she wasn't in her usual spot by the gates. His eyebrows furrowed as he whirled around, looking everywhere. _Where was she?_ Fang couldn't find her anywhere. He couldn't help but seize up in panic, but he couldn't lose his head over something like this. It was nothing, he tried to convince himself. _She's probably waiting for me inside._ He reasoned and then headed in the direction of his homeroom.

_This is strange. _Why wouldn't Max be waiting for him? Did he make her mad somehow? No, that couldn't be it, she'd been so happy yesterday. He could see it in her eyes.

He entered his homeroom and looked around for Max. She wasn't here either. Had something happened? He started to panic again. _No, stop it Fang!_ He told himself. _She's fine! She's fine. Something just came up. You can stop by her house afterschool._ He slowly walked over to his seat, the desk right behind where she was supposed to sit. A few of his classmates glanced over at him, and then at the seat before him, probably wondering the same thing he was. _Where was Max?_ He could practically hear the rumor mill starting up. He wondered what ridiculous theories he'd hear by the end of the day. He looked toward the door, longing for Max to walk through it. He worried about her when she wasn't with him. It was stupid. Max could take care of himself. She'd proved that many times over, but he couldn't help himself. He cared about her.

He noticed something as he looked over at the door. James, better known as Iggy, Max's brother, wasn't here either. Something had definitely happened. He bit his lip. Maybe he should skip out on school and see what was going on. He could still get out of class without being noticed. The teacher hadn't arrived yet from her morning coffee session, also known as Starbucks.

He went to stand up, and, of course, that's the precise moment the teacher decides to finally make her entrance and Fang was forced to sit down. With a huff he waited for the teacher to call roll, knowing she would get his name wrong—again.

A, B, C…those first last names took a while to get through. Then it got to the G's, H's, and I's, those didn't take long at all. Finally it was at the M's, where his name would be.

"Nicholas Martinez?" The teacher asked, there were a few snickers throughout the room.

"It's Fang." He replied with a sigh, his frustration rising with each moment he wasn't finding out where Max was. "Not Nicholas. Not Nick. Not—"

"Nicky!" Some guy in the class called out in a girly voice causing a roar of laughter.

"No, definitely not Nicky." Fang said with a shiver, remembering his old ex-girlfriend, A.K.A. stalker.

"Well, _Nicholas_, I am going to call you what your parents named you. Not some silly nickname." The teacher retorted.

"Ugh." Fang groaned. This name game with this lady was an on-going battle, one that annoyed the crap out of him, though he'd take it any day over having to deal with Lissa again. How he ever got stuck dating that crazy girl was beyond him. Well, actually, it was never official. Lissa just said they were dating and then tried to stick her tongue down his throat and molest him every chance she got. _God, I'm so glad you decided to have mercy on me and make her move away._ He was relieved that he didn't have to deal with her anymore. When he and Lissa had been "dating", Max helped him get away from her. She always saved him.

Thinking about Max reminded him that she wasn't here, and that made him remember his panic, which instantly returned. _Where was she?_ Fang heard the intercom's static and knew the office was trying to contact the room.

"_Mrs. Asher?" _The intercom buzzed.

"Yes?" The teacher replied.

"_Can you send Nicholas Martinez to the office please?"_

"Yes I can." She replied. The static faded away and Fang could hear a few hushed murmurs.

Mrs. Asher turned to him and said, "You heard her Nick," He groaned as he heard her say his birth name again. _It's Fang._ "Take your bags with you just in case."

He shoved his books into his bag and headed out the doors, a few oooohs following him. Walking down the hallway he couldn't help but wonder if this had to do with Max. _No, it doesn't._ He thought shoving the idea out of his head. _Max. Is. Fine._

He opened the office doors and was greeted by two—police officers?

_What the hell is going on?_

**Me:**** Hehehe **

**BFF:**** You're evil. Just evil.**

**Me:**** Why, thank you. **

**BFF:**** First I have to chase you all over creation and then you give me a cliffy?**

**Me:**** Yup. ;) Oh, by the way if for some reason you are still wondering, BFF did catch me.**

**BFF:**** Yes I did! And I'm gonna find out some way to punish you for doing this to me.**

**Me:**** No you won't. *smiles innocently***

**BFF:**** And why wouldn't I?**

**Me:**** Because you are my best friend.**

**BFF:**** Your best **_**imaginary **_**friend.**

**Me:**** You're not still mad about that are you?**

**BFF:**** Yes. *waves Smashfries in front of Wander's face***

**Me:**_**SMASHFRIES!**_

**BFF:**** Wander is completely obsessed with Smashburger's Smashfries.**

**Me:**** Give them to me!**

**BFF:**** Nope *popping the p***

**Me:**_**Please?**_

**BFF:**** Nope. *Eats a Smashfry***

**Me:**** Nooooo! Smashfry!**

**BFF:**** See what I mean? Utterly obsessed.**

**Me:**** You. Just. Murdered. A. Smashfry.**

**BFF:**** Like you wouldn't have shoved them all down your throat if I had given them to you.**

**Me:**** *sobs hysterically* I'll miss you Smashfry.**

**BFF:**** Ummm, maybe I went a little too far… **


	3. Chapter 3

**BFF:**** Hey guys, I hoped you like Wandering's last chapter.**

**Me:**** Me too! But I wish Smashfry was still here… *sniffles***

**BFF:**** Are you really still gonna go on about that?**

**Me:**** Yes! Smashfry was amazing, just the right amount of seasoning and deliciousness, and then you went and killed him!**

**BFF:**** It was a French fry.**

**Me:**** No! He was a **_**Smashfry**_**, and he deserves a proper burial.**

**BFF:**** Oh my God, really? *shakes head***

**Me:**** Yes! *Pulls out miniature coffin and tombstone and starts digging with a shovel***

**BFF:**** *Rolls eyes* Anyways, I'll go ahead and say it again. Wandering does not own MR or Smashfries or a magical unicorn.**

**Me:**** But I do own a dragon!**

**BFF:**** No, you don't.**

**Me:**** But I do in my mind! If you deny that Norbert is real you deny that you are real!**

**BFF:**** Sneaky…**

**Me:**** Win for Team Wander! **

**BFF:**** *eye roll***

**Me:**** Hey, should we invite Dylan, Max, and Fang to the funeral?**

**BFF:**** Suuuuuurrrrrrre, why not? *sarcastic voice***

**Me:**** Hey, where is Dylan anyway?**

**BFF:**** *looks around* Uh-oh.**

Max's POV

Max woke up groggily and involuntarily groaned as she tried to sit up. At first her vision was completely black and she panicked for a moment thinking she was blind like her brother, Iggy. When her vision cleared she reprimanded herself for being so stupid, but when you wake up in a strange place it's hard not to panic and think stupid thoughts.

She looked around. The place was indeed strange. It was dark, but she could still see clearly because of the room's white walls. The room was mostly bare, sparsely decorated, if you could call it even that. The room held only the essentials, meaning a bed, a sink with some soap, and a toilet. Nothing more. Nothing less. There was only one thin sheet on the bed she was on.

Max glanced down at herself for a moment, wondering if she had gotten into a fight and someone had picked her up and given her a place to sleep. But she looked perfectly fine, other than the fact that she didn't remember putting on the clothes she was wearing right now last night. Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. In fact she didn't think these clothes were even hers. _What happened to _my_ clothes?_ She wondered, and then shivered at an unpleasant thought that crossed her mind. _No, I'd know if _that _happened._

Something else had happened though and she was determined to figure out what it was. After that she'd go home and find Fang. Max looked out a small window at the top of the wall across from her. It was almost midday. _He's gonna be worried sick. Dang it! I need to get out of here._

Max started for the door. The room was chilly and she instantly regretted not taking the blanket with her. Those little shorts and tank top would never keep her warm. She muttered in disgust as she wondered what sick-o **(A/N ****Me:**** Sorry guys I don't know how to spell it. ****BFF:**** A lot of people don't know how to spell stuff. Me for example I can't spell doplganger, no wait that's not it dopehelganger, no wait… ****Me:**** doppelganger? ****BFF:**** That's it! ****Me:**** This is what spellcheck is for.)** had put her in so little clothing. She felt horribly exposed, even with nobody else in the room. Reaching forward, she took hold of the doorknob and instantly jumped back. The knob was freezing cold! _Who puts a room at this temperature? _Max thought indignantly. She reached for it again and wrapped her hand around the knob. It was so cold the touch almost hurt as much as being burned, and that's exactly what it felt like. As if somebody was trying to burn her with ice. She turned her hand to turn the door handle, but it wouldn't budge. She tried it again with no results. Somebody had locked her inside.

Max could feel her heart starting to pound. The situation seemed to be getting worse and worse by the moment. She wished Fang was here, then she'd feel better, then she'd feel strong. She loved him. She loved him more than anything. He had this amazing effect on her that made her fearless and happy. Everybody called him emo, but he wasn't really. He could be pretty damn cheerful if he wanted to. He was just a silent and shy boy, that along with his super good looks and black wardrobe instantly made him the most mysterious boy in the whole school. Fang wasn't that mysterious to her though, in fact he was pretty easy to read. All she had to do was look into those black, endless eyes of his and she could instantly tell what he was thinking.

He made her feel loved, her family did that too, but not like he did. **(A/N ****Me:**** Please children, pull your head out of the gutter.)** Fang made her feel a whole lot of stuff **(A/N ****Me:**** Emotionally that is!) **that she never thought she'd feel. Safe, loved, beautiful, crazy, happy, joyful, ecstatic, oh she could go on and on. Right now though, without him, she was getting a bit scared, though she'd never show it. She shivered. _And Fang's pretty warm too._

_Come on, girl! You gotta get yourself together!_ She shook her fear from her and started looking around for an escape. _I've got to get back._

She glanced up at the window. _Hmmmm… I might be able to fit through…_ The window was small, just large enough to where she might be able to get herself through. She glanced down at her hips. She really hoped she could get through. Max made her way over to the bed, trying to calculate how much more height she would need to reach it. It didn't have to be much, she was pretty tall. She checked the bed to make sure it wasn't bolted to the floor or anything. It wasn't. She almost smiled with the relief she was feeling, but the feeling instantly disappeared when she heard the door clicking open behind her. Max whirled around and the door swung open. She gasped in horror.

"Hello, Max, long time no see." The man said from the door with a smirk.

_Dylan._

**Me:**** Yeah, so, Dylan escaped.**

**BFF:**** That's not my fault! You ran away!**

**Me:**** I didn't say it was your fault.**

**BFF:**** Oh, well…**

**Me:**** Okay, we need to make a plan.**

**BFF:**** To do what?**

**Me:**** To recapture Dylan of course!**

**BFF:**** Yes! We need to! Before he ruins the story!**

**Me:**** He won't I'll promise you that, but we need to catch him quickly.**

**Fang:**** Did you say Dylan got out?**

**Me:**** Yes we did. Hey, where's Max?**

**Fang:**** I can't find her. *wails***

**BFF:**** Oh No! Dylan probably took her into the story with him! Fax may be ruined forever!**

**Fang:**** *wails even more loudly***

**Me:**** Please, stop Fang. You are making yourself look bad. You need to be like "let's go get her"**

**Fang:**** *entire attitude changes* Let's Go Get Her!**

**Me:**** That's my boy.**

**Fang:**** I am not your boy.**

**BFF:**** No, you're Max's.**

**Me:**** Ain't that the truth.**

**BFF:**** Ain't? **

**Me:**** What? I'm expressing my Texas heritage.**

**BFF:**** Your parents were born in Illinois and Indiana.**

**Me:**** Whatever, **_**I**_** was born in Texas.**

**BFF and Fang:**** *eye rolls***

**Me:**** Back to the plan! *whispers plan in their ears and draws battle plan in the dirt with a stick***

**BFF:**** That's a good plan.**

**Fang:**** I like that plan.**

**Me:**** You know it is! *pumps fist in air***

**Fang:**** Can I have the flamethrower?**

**Me:**** We'll see…**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**

**BFF:** **Wander doesn't own MR.**

**Me:**** Like I said before, if I did Fang would have never left. **

**Me:**** Oh, yeah! I put up a cover for my story! Tell me what you think of it!**

**BFF:**** Moving on.**

**Me:**** okay, so we implicated the plan to capture Dylan-**

**BFF:**** and it failed epically.**

**Me:**** well, not epically-**

**Fang: ****You trapped yourself in the cage and it took us an hour to bust you out.**

**BFF:**** And Fang accidentally torched Iggy's car.**

**Fang:**** Sorry Iggy!**

**Iggy:**** It's okay, as long as you buy me a Ferrari **

**Fang:**** *mutters* Yeah, and that's gonna happen **

**Me:**** Wait why does the blind guy have a car?**

**Iggy:**** The ladies love it.**

**Me:**** You are such a sexist pig.**

**BFF:**** You are. *nods in agreement***

**Iggy:**** But you love me anyways.**

**Me:**** Yes, you're awesome. Now get over yourself. *fantasizes about kissing Iggy***

**Iggy:**** Did you just fantasize about kissing me?**

**Me:**** Nooooooo... **

**BFF:**** Hahaha Yes! You fantasized about kissing Iggy!**

**Me:**** *blushes***

**Fang:**** I wish I could kiss Max...**

**BFF:**** Wander and Iggy sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!**

Fang's POV

The cops lead Fang out of the school after signing him out of the office with a call from his mother, Valencia** (A/N ****Me:**** That is her name right?)**. She was still working at the vet's office, but she planned to go down to the station as soon as she could. Iggy was already down there apparently, according to the police officers. Fang wondered if Max was down there too, maybe something had happened to their parents, like they got injured or something. _But then, wouldn't they be at the hospital instead of the police station?_

The policemen weren't all that nice to him and pushed him into the car roughly as if they were condemning him for something. But why? He sat in the caged back seat. Fang didn't like the bars on the windows. They made him feel claustrophobic, as if the car was falling in on him somehow, even though its framework hadn't moved any closer to him. The sooner he was out of this car the happier he'd be. _No,_ he thought,_ the sooner I find Max the happier I'll be._

Maybe these cop guys would know if Max was down at the station?

"Hey, guys, do you know if Max is down there at the police station?" He asked, hoping she was so he could quit worrying. "I've been looking for her all day, and she didn't come to school."

The two men looked over to one another in a silent exchange. The one that had pushed him into the car looked over with a guilty expression, as if he were saying 'I'm sorry'. He was the younger of the two and hadn't eaten too many donuts yet. **(A/N ****Me:**** I know this is sooo stereotypical… ****BFF:**** It is. ****Me:**** But I had to do it, it was just too irresistible.)** The older man just sat there staring straight ahead at the road, not saying or even expressing anything to Fang. Fang was glad he was taking his driving seriously, but seriously? They couldn't answer a simple question?

"Guys?" He questioned.

"We'll talk at the station." The older cop said curtly.

_Wow. Way to be all warm and fuzzy Mr. Police Officer. _Fang thought to himself, but just nodded and sat back in his seat. Where the heck was Max? Not at school. Not at the police station. She could be at the vet with her mom, but Fang doubted it. Max hated seeing hurt animals. Guess what a vet's office is full of? Hurt animals. That left her house, or maybe the ice cream shop, or the diner down the street, or—_Ugh! There are too many places to check._

Then an idea popped into his head. He could swear a light bulb had blinked on above his head. Why hadn't he thought of it before? _Dumb. Dumb. Dumb!_ He felt like hitting his head against a wall as punishment for his stupidity. Fang pulled out his phone.

"What are you doing?" The younger police officer asked warily.

"I'm just sending a text to Max to ask where she is since you guys are all 'lips sealed' and everything." Fang said, a little annoyance seeping into his tone as he sent the text.

"Put that thing away." The older man snapped.

Fang raised an eyebrow at him. He didn't like this guy.

"Why? Am I in some kind of trouble?" He asked then added with a note of sarcasm. "Is this about my grades?"

The younger man stifled a laugh while the older man scowled. "You're not helping your case, son."

"So, I am in trouble. What for? Eating too many chicken wings?" Fang replied.

Silence.

Apparently the man was done talking.

Fang sighed and wished he knew where Max was. She hadn't responded to his text yet. He really, really wished she would. His agitation was growing by the minute, and why the freaking hell was he in trouble? He hadn't broken any laws. He hadn't even sped on those awesome rollercoaster-like back roads in a while. It was dangerous, and he had so much to live for these days.

It was nice remembering how Max's hair would toss about as he drove with the top down in his Mustang. It'd be a tangled mess by the time they got to wherever they were going and she had to bring her brush along with her everywhere they went, but she loved it. She'd laugh the whole way to wherever they were going, just feeling the wind. Awwww. That laugh, like music to his ears. Fang could listen to it all day.

Remembering her made him feel better, but at the same time it made him even more scared, because he had no idea where she was, and she still hadn't responded to his text. Maybe he should call? But the cops wouldn't let him yet. He'd have to wait till he got to the station.

Fang sat there in unbearable silence, twiddling his thumbs. One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi…

"Guys, are you sure you don't know where Max is, or do you know and just not telling me, because if you are, it's so not cool. I'm worried sick back here! Did something bad happen? Is she hurt or something? Is she gonna be okay—" Fang spouted out. _Dang, I sound just like Max's friend Nudge._

"Whoa, whoa, kid." The younger man spoke up, trying to calm Fang down. "We'll fill you in on what's going on when we get to the station. We just gotta ask you a few questions, that's all."

"So, you know where Max is?" Fang said, hope flooding his voice.

Silence again. The cops exchanged a look. Dread filled him.

"You don't know where Max is?" He asked in a quiet, dead voice.

No answer.

The car stopped.

"We're here." The older cop said getting out of the car and opening up the back door to let Fang out.

He scooted out of the seat and placed his feet on the pavement. Everything felt oddly unreal. As if he was separated from everything. He stood up and walked up to the police station with the two cops.

He was here.

But where was Max?

**Me:**** So what'd you guys think?**

**BFF:**** You say that a lot after the end of chapters.**

**Me:**** Well would you rather me go: Think what did you?**

**Iggy:**** Nice, love the whole Yoda thing you got going on there.**

**Me:**** Thanks *blushes***

**BFF:**** Wander's got a crush! Wander's got a crush!**

**Iggy:**** On moi.**

**Me:**** Maaaayyyyybe…**

**Iggy:**** You fanaticized about kissing me.**

**Me:**** Truuuuuue… Okay, Fine! I've got a crush.**

**BFF:**** Thank the Lord she admitted it!**

**Me:**** You have a crush to.**

**BFF:**** He's also my boyfriend**

**Me:**** That's true…**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**

**Me:**** I've been having computer problems recently so I haven't been able to post as much as I've wanted to. So to make up for it I'm going to post several chaps. at the same time.**

**BFF:**** Yippee!**

**Fang:**** Don't forget that we still have to rescue Max from Dylan!**

**Me:**** Of course!**

***awkward silence***

**Me:**** Well, does anybody have any ideas?**

**Iggy:**** Well, I've got one… **

**Fang:**** Uh-oh, here comes bombs galore.**

**Iggy:**** Hey, not all of my plans have bombs in them!**

**BFF:**** Well, does this one have bombs in it?**

**Iggy:**** No.**

**BFF:**** *scolding tone* Iggy…**

**Iggy:**** Yes…**

**Me:**** Awesome! *pumps fist in the air* We're like the Mythbusters!**

**Iggy:**** *smiles***

**BFF and Fang:**** *facepalm***

**Me:**** Btw, I don't own MR, the Mythbusters (who are freakin' awesomesauce!), Crayola, or a flying unicorn.**

**(Warning: Contains Abusive Language and Insinuations to Rape. Does not actually contain rape, but it is mentioned. None of the characters featured in the story have been raped, nor will they be. Sorry if I ruined the suspense a little bit, but this is one thing I cannot leave you guys on a cliffhanger with.)**

Chapter 5

Max's POV

Dylan stepped into the room.

"Hello Max, long time no see." He said, striding toward her.

Ma looked around frantically for something to protect herself. Seeing nothing better to use, she grabbed the miserable little pillow that had been on her bed and lifted it up toward Dylan in a threatening stance.

"You, stay away from me." She spat at him angrily.

How the hell was he here? He was supposed to be in jail for the things he'd done to her. He'd slapped her, broken her bones, and damn near killed her. Thankfully her father, Jeb, had found them. He knocked the boy out and called the cops. He was pretty upset, Max remembered. He should have been, after all, he was the one who had pressed so hard for Max to get into a relationship with Dylan. Max knew her father would never forgive himself, heck, she wasn't sure she had even forgiven him yet. But she knew that she'd forgive him eventually, because in the end her father hadn't really thought he'd left his daughter to the hands of a murder, as she would later find Dylan out to be. He thought he was leaving her with a good man, after all that's the person Dylan had acted like in front of her father, and she'd never told him otherwise. She didn't know that the way Dylan had been treating her had been wrong, he'd been her first boyfriend.

Soon after her father had saved her from Dylan, the cops came to pick him up. Later she found out that Dylan's prints had been found at two murder scenes. Both victims, young girls. After learning about what Dylan had done to those girls, she cried and asked her mother, Angela, **(A/N I made up this character, because personally I hated Anne and didn't want her in my story, so there you go. New character. There wasn't anybody named Angela in the books was there?)** why anybody would do that to another human being. Her mother replied by saying that only monsters do that to little girls. Sick, twisted monsters.

Dylan was sent to prison for life, a special prison. Heavily guarded, the policemen had said. Her father still didn't trust that his family would be safe, so they moved. Moved as far away as they could. Daddy said he didn't want that monster to ever touch his little angel again.

But here he was again. Dylan. The monster.

_How the hell did he break out of prison?_

"Oh, Maxi, is that any way to greet an old friend?" The monster said.

She gave a short laugh. "Friend? You tried to kill me you bastard."

Suddenly his hand was on her throat. He spaced the gap between them in seconds flat. Her fingers wrapped around his hand, trying to pry it away from her with little success.

"Hmm, Maxi, your manners need some fixin'." He said with a tone that made her shiver in disgust.

Then he threw her back into the wall. She bounced off and hit the floor. _Ouch._ She thought hoping Fang or the police would find her soon. _Oh, let this be a bad dream._ She wished. But it wasn't a bad dream. That much she knew, and hated. Dreams didn't hurt, not like this.

"It's Max." She spat once she had recovered. "Not Maxi, Max."

He chuckled.

"You've changed Maximum, and not entirely for the better."

She sat up and grabbed the discarded pillow again. She doubted it would help any, unless he fell asleep, then she could smother him with it. He probably wouldn't be so stupid as to do that, but she could always hope.

"I tend to disagree." She replied icily to the monster.

He took a threatening step toward her, but she held her ground. She wouldn't bow to this monster. Not again. Never again.

Dylan's eyes flashed dangerously.

"You should know better than to disagree with me Maxi." He said through gritted teeth.

Max smiled, knowing she'd gotten under her skin. It was probably not the best idea to agitate a murdering rapist, but she would not let him get to her. She would not let him control her with fear ever again. No matter what. Anyways, she knew how to defend herself. Dad had seen to that, signing her up with just about every defense instructor in the state. He had Iggy go along with her as well. Jeb was scared that what happened at their last home would happen here. You'd understand his paranoia too if you had to save your child from a murder, who just happened to be her boyfriend, of whom you encouraged her to date, and then upon saving her wondered if she would even survive. Yeah, you would be paranoid too.

"It's Max, and I'll disagree with you as much as I want." She said bravely.

Dylan's eyes darkened, but he made no approach towards her. He turned and stared at the wall, keeping Max within his sights. _As he should._ Max thought to herself proudly, but she really wished he would turn away, and she really wished she had a baseball bat to beat him over the head with.

"I've been watching you for months now, Maxi. I can't believe you cheated on me." He said and actually sounded like he was hurt.

_Oh, my effing God! Is he serious? That douche! He still thinks we're together after what he did to me?_

"I broke up with you." Max said in an annoyed voice.

"No you didn't."

"Yes. I. Did." She gritted out. "What? Was my testimony against you in court too subtle for you?"

He whirled around angrily and was in her face in half a second.

"You didn't break up with me! And you won't, not ever! You're mine Maximum. No one else's. I'm gonna make you regret ever bringing that boy into this, because he's next on my list." He yelled in her face. She recoiled from him and was suddenly in a panic. Fang. He was going to hurt Fang.

"Please, don't—" She began, trying to plead with him.

"I'm going to find your little boy toy—"

"He's not my boy toy! I love him!" She protested.

This only seemed to anger him more. His face glowed red as he brought his hand back and then slapped her across the face. Max fell to the floor.

"I'm going to find him and he and I are going to have a little chat. Then I'm going to kill him and bring his corpse back for you to cry over you cheating whore!"

"No! Please! Leave him alone!" Max begged as he got up and left the room.

Max sat there and wept. Dylan was going to kill Fang and she couldn't even warn him. She stopped crying for a moment. _Warn him._ Max looked up to the window, looking at it now she wondered how she could have ever thought she might have fit through there. It was much too small, but there was a small latch on the window. It had a lock on it, but that was no big feat to overcome. She was a master at picking locks and she had a bobby pin hidden in her hair. She could warn him!

She glanced around the room looking for any cameras. There were none. Good.

Max thought through her options, there were only really two since she couldn't fit through the window. Either she shouted out her warning through the window, or she could write it down and try to throw it outside far enough for somebody to see it and pick it up. Well, option number one would probably alert Dylan and whatever goons he had hiding around. So it looked like she was left with option two.

_Paper, paper, where are you?_ She rummaged around and finally found some brown paper towels under the sink. _Now for something to write with._ The looked through the cabinets, under the bed, and every other hiding spot but couldn't find anything. She looked down at her feet, trying to think of anything around her that she could write with. She paused for a moment and looked down at her shoes. She almost shrieked out in joy. Angel, her next door neighbor had tied her brother, Gazzy's Crayola ring to her shoe laces. Max had been meaning to take it off but she was always too tired to do so. For probably the first and last time ever, she praised her laziness.

Max quickly untied her shoes and took the wax ring in hand before re-lacing her shoes. She quickly wrote a letter to Fang, putting instructions to whoever found it to take it to his address. Then she folded the brown paper into a paper plane, picked the lock, opened the window, and threw the paper airplane into the wind, along with all the hope in the world.

**A/N**

**Me:**** This is my longest chap. ever I think.**

**BFF:**** It is, or it is for now.**

**Me:**** It was really fun to write, sorry for the graphics though, and language too, but I felt like it was the best way to describe Dylan's character in this story, he's very suave and cocky at times but he can become unstable very fast. He's a murderer and a rapist. He has never known love, he's only ever used women as a means to achieve what he thinks is love. This explains his reaction to Max telling him she loves Fang, because he doesn't understand what love actually means, he thinks they are intimately involved in a relationship. This angers Dylan a lot because, the thing is, just like in MR, Dylan actually does love Max, but in this story he doesn't really understand what he is feeling. Also, as in MR, he doesn't really know Max. And he has no idea as to how to convey his love to her, or at least he doesn't know how to in this fanfic. But don't worry Fax fans, there will be NO Mylan, only Fax. **

**Iggy:**** Wow. That was extremely in depth, where do you learn these things?**

**Me:**** Psychology books, and my mom, she taught me a lot on the human psyche **(that is how you spell it right?)**, or at least that's what I think it's called. You should hear her psychological explanation of Voldemort and his actions. My mom said that he hated himself, but instead of turning all that self-hatred inward, he turned it outward and killed anyone who was like him, a half-blood. She went more in depth than that, but that's the gist. It's super cool picking apart these characters and figuring out why they do what they do.**

**BFF:**** Awesome! Do Fang!**

**Fang:**** What? No!**

**Me:**** *ignores Fang* Okay, well first of all, Fang is an introvert. He doesn't like to talk a lot and he doesn't like hanging out around people other than Max and the Flock, and even not them sometimes. Fang's like the exact opposite of Nudge. I don't really think we need to go over the paranoid part, I think that explains itself, if you've ever read any part of the series that is. I'm guessing that Fang wore his hair long for that time in between the Flock's first escape from The School and Angel's kidnapping, because after being at the hands of someone else for so long he wanted some control. Growing his hair long was a means of accomplishing that, because I doubt the whitecoats let him choose his own hairstyle when he was with them. Then there's his wardrobe—**

**Fang:**** Okay, that's enough, why don't you do Iggy next?**

**Me:**** *grins happily* Okay—**

**Iggy:**** Hey, look! I've got fireworks! Want to go shoot them off? *Pulls out fireworks***

**Me:**** Fireworks! Yes, of course! Let's go shoot them off!**

**BFF:**** This is so cool!**

***Wander and BFF skip away toward firework shooting range* **(I have no idea where you shoot off fireworks so I just came up with this)

**Fang:**** *mutters to Iggy* Cheater.**

**Iggy:**** You know it. *smiles* Now lets go shoot off some fireworks.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**

_**Disclaimer:**_** I got tired of writing it into my little A/N story every time so I'm gonna write it up top before it from now on. Go ahead, call me lazy, but after a while you run out of funny ways to say the disclaimer, I might add it into the A/N story later on if I do find any funny ways to do it, but for now… I do not own Maximum Ride. It kinda sucks, but ah well, that's life, you don't get everything you want.**

**Me:**** Hey, guys! You should have seen the fireworks! They were so amazing!**

**BFF:**** They were soooo pretty. Soooo romantic, wasn't it Tom? **

**Tom:**** Yes, very romantic **

***BFF and Tom make out***

**Me:**** Tom is BFF's boyfriend, he's the imaginary version of my real BFF, Gabby's (who I like to call Gabs) boyfriend. She actually came up with the name for the imaginary version of him, which I find to be really sweet. And yes, Gabs, who will undoubtedly read this sooner or later, I did have the imaginary versions of you and your boyfriend make out to embarrass you. But don't be embarrassed too much, your true identity is safe with me.**

**BFF:**** Hahaha that was a good one.**

**Me:**** Oh, yeah and sorry if your imaginary version is a bit evil at times, that's probably a bit of me leaking in, and she's incredibly jealous of you.**

**BFF:**** Hey!**

**Me:**** Just keeping it real.**

**Fang:**** Says the person with imaginary people in her head.**

**Me:**** *glowers***

**Iggy:**** *calls from other room* Hey guys? Can you come in here and help?**

**BFF:**** Ummm, why do you need our help? Aren't you the bomb expert?**

**Iggy:**** Pleeeeeeeeaaaaasssssseeeee? These things will explode if I don't get someone to hold down these wires for me.**

**BFF:**** No, thanks**

**Fang:**** Sorry Iggy.**

**Tom:**** I don't feel like getting barbecued.**

**Me:**** I'll help. *walks into other room to help Iggy***

**Fang:**** She's crazy.**

**BFF:**** Yeah, I'm seriously considering calling the asylum. **

***big explosion in other room***

**BFF:**** Oh, my…**

***Wander and Iggy come out coughing and covered in black ash***

**Tom:**** Are you guys okay?**

**Iggy:**** Oh, just dandy *coughs* **

**Me:**** I think you put a little too much *coughs* black powder in that one. **

**Iggy:**** Yeah, I think so too…**

Chapter 6

Third Person POV

The paper airplane flew through the air, its wings catching the soft air. But quickly it began to fall as its weight and loss of momentum bore down upon it. It crashed into the grass** (A/N Yes there is grass in Arizona)** with an inaudible thud. A bit of dirt stained the nose of the plane which was now bent slightly out of shape.

The wind picked up and caught hold of the little paper airplane causing it to skid across the lawn into the street. One of the plane's brown wings was jarred and its folding came a bit undone, revealing a little of the message written within. Black wax was scribbled across the page in hurried strokes, from looking at the jarred wing one could just make out the words:

_**Dear Fang, **_

The rest of the message was hidden from sight.

A car drove overtop of the airplane and it caught flight once more, but with it's broken wing the airplane spun about wildly out of control. It nearly dove into a nearby gutter, but hit the pavement just before it and bounced back into the grass. Its broken wing caught hold of the grass and kept it from going any further.

As luck would have it, a man walked by with his mail carrier. He was a post man and was delivering mail. The slight wave of the paper airplane in the wind caught the man's eye and he bent down to pick it up.

The Mailman's POV

_Huh, _the mailman thought as he picked up the little brown paper airplane. _Some kids must have been making some airplanes and forgot to pick them up._ But he still found it kind of strange to find an airplane out in the middle of the grass. Don't paper airplanes belong in schools and classrooms?

He turned the airplane over in his hand and found some black writing on the side.

_**Please, whoever finds this take it to this address:**_

_**778 Woodshire Ln. Gatlin, AZ XXXXX**_

_**This is life-or-death so don't blow this off!**_

**(A/N I just came up with that address, I don't even know if there is a Gatlin, AZ. Sorry to anyone who lives there if there is, I didn't know, don't get your panties in a bunch, and the XXXXX is supposed to be the zip code)**

The mailman stared at the piece of paper and almost laughed at the irony. What were the odds that this would come to him? A mailman? And that address? It was just a few houses down.

He smiled. He'd deliver the letter. It wouldn't be too much of a hassle.Anyways, it would give him a story to tell his wife and kids when he got home. They too would surely find its irony.

He pondered what the letter contained, but he didn't open the airplane up to see what message it held. That was rude, not to mention illegal. Mailmen were forbidden by law to go through other people's letters. It was a violation of privacy laws. Though he wondered for a moment if that meant really anything anymore with the government listening in on people's phone calls without their consent. **(A/N I thought bringing in a modern topic of debate might help enrich the story a bit)**

He delivered the mail to the other houses and then approached the mailbox of the house whose address was on the paper airplane. The mailman opened it up and stuffed the other mail for the house into the mailbox before placing the airplane carefully on top, not wanting it to be crushed. For some reason the thought of it being crushed bothered him.

He shut the box and walked to the next house, hoping the 'life-or-death' situation the airplane had referred to had been greatly exaggerated.

**A/N**

**Me:**** Sorry for such a short chap guys! I promise the next chap will be longer!**

**BFF:**** It better be! *scary voice***

**Me:**** *squeaks* It will be.**

**Iggy:**** You're kinda scary, has anybody ever told you that.**

**BFF:**** No, but whenever I do my scary voice people runaway screaming for the hills, so I kind of figured it out on my own.**

**Tom:**** I'd never run away from you, baby. **

(Yes I'm teasing you again Gabs, but take it as a good thing. I only tease about people who are freaking awesomesauce.)

**Fang: ****You don't know that, she's never used the scary voice on you.**

**BFF:**** I'd never use the scary voice on Tom. **

***Wander, Fang, and Iggy give skeptical looks***

**Tom:**** Oh, yeah before I forget, I got this really cool snake from my brother. *pulls out baby corn snake* **

***BFF and Iggy shriek***

**Me:**** Guys really? It's just a corn snake, it's not even a foot long, and it's not poisonous.**

**Iggy:**** I don't care how big it is! Its weird and gross feeling and I. Hate. Snakes. **(I don't know if its true, but I figured that since snakes are really weird feeling it might be unpleasant to some people and Iggy kinda relies on touch and hearing sooooo…Snake phobia born)

**BFF:**** Okay, I take back my promise from earlier, I **_**will**_** use my scary voice if you come anywhere near me with that!**

**Tom:**** You sure you don't want to just pet him? *edges forward toward BFF with snake and a teasing grin***

**BFF:**** *scary voice* Get that thing away from me.**

**Tom:**** Yikes! *hides behind chair***

**Fang:**** Told you she was scary.**

**Tom:**** Hey, I didn't run away! I just hid.**

***Iggy snickers***

**Me:**** Just go put the baby corn snake away before you give your girlfriend a heart attack. *tries to calm hyperventilating BFF***

**Tom: ****Okay, I'll go put Blackjack away.**

**Fang:**** You named your snake Blackjack?**

**Tom:**** I liked it. *puts Blackjack in his glass cage***

(I actually owned a corn snake named Blackjack, but he died a year or so ago. *sniffle sniffle* So this is a bit of a memento to him.)


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride. If I did, Fang would have never left, we've already been over this. And I don't own Back to the Future either, if I did I would steal the car and travel back in time and become the greatest fortune teller of all time. **

**Me:**** Hey guys, here's another chap for your enjoyment.**

**BFF:**** Yes!**

**Iggy:**** Popcorn anybody?**

**Fang: ****Hey! We still have to save Max remember?**

**Iggy:**** All of my bombs got destroyed because **_**you**_** wouldn't help me!**

**Me:**** So what do we do now?**

**Tom:**** Could I suggest something?**

**Fang:**** Yes! Please do.**

**Tom:**** Can't we just go into the story and tell the story Fang where Max is?**

**Me:**** Have you never seen **_**Back to the Future**_**? We're from the future, the story Fang is from the past! If we go back in time, we could disrupt the space time continuum!**

**Tom:**** Just a suggestion. *raises hands in defeat***

**BFF:**** Hey, Wander, what you bashin' on my boyfriend for?**

**Me:**** Sorry, I didn't mean to.**

**Fang:**** Wait does that mean-? **

***front door opens***

**Max:**** Hey! I'm back!**

**Fang:**** Max! *Runs over to her and kisses her***

**Max:**** Umm, hi to you too Fang.**

**Fang:**** Where have you been?**

**Max:**** Picking up ice cream. Hey, guys how does a movie and some Ben & Jerry's sound?**

**BFF:**** Awesome!**

**Me:**** Great! You should have seen Fang, Max. He was sooooo worried about you. He started sobbing when we thought you'd been kidnapped by Dylan.**

**Fang:**** *blushes***

**Max:**** You did? Oh, I'm so sorry I worried you Fang.**

***Max and Fang make out***

**Tom:**** Well, that's quite a reunion.**

**BFF:**** It is.**

***Tom and BFF make out***

**Me:**** Wow. Did it just get hot in here or what?**

**Iggy:**** I know right? *plugging fingers in ears***

**Me:**** Come on, let's go steal the Ben & Jerry's and watch a movie, while everybody…you know.**

**Iggy:**** Sounds great. **

Chapter 7

Fang's POV

Fang walked up the steps to the police station. The two officers flanking him. He stepped through the doors and heard someone call out his name before he was tackled. He looked down at his assailant, it was Iggy, Max's brother. The action wouldn't have been very odd to Fang under any other circumstances, Iggy and Fang wrestled all the time, but they were in a police station. Even Iggy wouldn't fool around that much in here. Come to think of it, how in the world had Iggy known he was there? Or even that it was him? Iggy didn't go around hugging random strangers, well, random _guy_ strangers. He did go hug girl strangers every once in a while and then he would blame the whole thing on being blind, Fang knew better. The second strange thing was that Iggy was crying. Very strange indeed.

"Iggy?" Fang asked. "Why are you crying? And what the hell is going on? I haven't heard or seen from Max all day. Is something going on with her?"

Iggy wiped his eyes with the sleeves of his shirt, trying to shrug off his distress, but was failing miserably.

"We can't find her." He said slowly, trying not to choke on his words. "She didn't come home last night, so I thought she was with you. But then she didn't come home in the morning, and I didn't see her leaving your house, or at school—"

Fang fell down into a chair, trying to piece it all together. What was Iggy trying to say? They couldn't find Max, anywhere? But she had to be somewhere. She had to be. He couldn't wrap his head around the concept. He felt utterly confused, his brain wouldn't process the information it was being handed. He put his head in his hands, trying to compute it. Iggy sat next to him and he was faintly aware of Max and Iggy's parents across from him in their own chairs.

"The police think you kidnapped her, I told them it was ridiculous, but they wouldn't listen." Iggy said glaring at the cops who had just brought Fang in. The younger one shifted a bit under his gaze. "They want to question you. That's why they brought you here, but don't worry. I've got your back, and so do the rest of us." Fang caught Iggy glancing meaningly in the direction of Max's father, but he was off in his gaze by about a foot.

"You mean—Max is missing?" Fang finally spoke up. Iggy gave him a nod. "Oh, God." He cried out, imagining Max's face on a missing poster in Wal-Mart. He felt like curling up into a ball and never getting up again. What if they couldn't find Max? Life without her would be meaningless.

"Don't worry, Fang, we'll find her." Iggy said, trying to comfort him.

The older policeman walked up to Fang.

"Come on, son. I know that nobody here believes you took Max, but we still have to question you to see for ourselves, and where she may have gone."

The policeman led him out of the room and down the hallway to the interrogation room. As he walked, he tried to comprehend all the new information he'd just been handed.

_Max was missing._

_She told him she loved him._

_She's been missing since last night._

_The police thought that Fang may have kidnapped her._

_Iggy doesn't believe that, but his father might._

He kept the mental list in his head. He was sure the police would investigate, but he wanted to help. Anyways who knew her better than he did? Well, maybe Iggy…

A door opened in front of him and he slipped in. The cop closed it behind him. Fang made his way over to the metal table and sat in the metal chair that was bolted to the floor. He understood that the room was meant for the questioning of much more dangerous people than himself, but he couldn't help but feel slightly offended at the idea that someone could distrust him so much as to bolt the furniture to the ground so he couldn't move it. Especially considering the fact that none of them knew him and the worst thing on his record was a few speeding tickets from a few years ago, before he met Max.

He eyed the metal cuffs attached to the table for a moment. _That must be uncomfortable._

A few minutes later a woman stepped in. Short skirt, low top, the whole slutty sha-bang. Fang wrinkled his nose in disgust, but tried to be nice and hide it. _They must be testing me._ He thought. He turned away from her and stared at the wall. To look at her while she dressed like this would be disrespectful, after all these clothes were probably an act she had to perform. He wondered what perverts she'd had to perform this act for before. He felt a pang of sorrow for her.

"Hello, Nicholas—" She began.

"Fang." He interrupted. He didn't mean to, but he'd been called Nicholas one too many times today.

"Okay, _Fang,_" She began again. "I'm Kristina Walker. I'd like to ask you a few questions, do you mind?"

"Sure, shot, but can we keep it short?" He asked impatiently. "I just wanna find Max, and this is wasting valuable time."

"I'll do my best." She smiled, trying to be seductive, but failing epically. She sure wasn't into this act.

She glanced down at her folder of papers and opened it up.

"What is your relationship with Maximum Ride?"

"She's my best friend and my girlfriend."

"How would you describe your relationship with her?"

"We're best pals, we tell each other everything and we've always got each other's backs." He said then added. "I love her, and I really want to find her. I'm worried about her."

"Have you engaged in any sexual relations?"

"What? No!" He turned toward her shocked. How could she think that? He'd never do that with her, not now. They weren't even married. Not to mention the terrible things he'd heard about what happened to kids who did it at their age. Worst of all, he'd heard that it could destroy friendships forever. He could never do that, her friendship, her relationship with him was too important to him.

"I'm just asking." The woman said defensively. "Okay, have there been any sorts of incidents in your past relationship with her? Fights? Drugs? Self-harm?"

"Unless you count fighting over who gets the last of my mother's cookies, getting a sugar high off of a ton of Pixie Sticks, or banging your head against the wall in frustration, then no."

"About the frustration, what would it usually be over?"

"Math problems." Fang said with a shrug, really wishing this little interrogation was over.

After a few more random questions, she finally got to the point.

"Okay, did you or did you not kidnap Maximum Ride." She said with an air of authority.

"No, I did not kidnap Max. I know how much her family means to her, I'd never take her away from them." Fang spoke with a voice of certainty.

Suddenly the door opened.

"You're free to go." Said the man in the doorway. Fang glanced at his badge. _Sheriff._

"But sir, I haven't finished my interrogation yet!" The woman protested. _Oh God, she had more questions?_

"No need, we've got all the evidence we need." He said handing the paper to her. She read it and looked quite shocked. "Found it in her bedroom."

Fang stared at it. There were only two kinds of notes a person left in their bedrooms for others to find.

Goodbye notes and suicide letters.

_Max wouldn't. She would never do that to me._

It had to be a goodbye letter. It had to be.

"Can I see it?" He said, his voice a bit shaky.

The woman handed it to him and he began to read.

**Dear Family,**

** I'm going to start by saying I'm sorry, but I can't pretend that what happened didn't happen. I can't pretend that he won't get out and he won't find me. I'm sorry, but I can't put you all in danger by staying with you, and please tell Fang I'm sorry but I never loved him and that he should move on in his life without me. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I love you all dearly.**

** Goodbye,**

** Maximum**

Fang's hands shook. Not from pain or sadness, but from anger, not toward Max, but whoever actually wrote this letter. Because, first of all, Max never said sorry, and this letter had sorry in it one…two…three times? Secondly, Max wasn't afraid of anything, she'd never run from anyone. Thirdly, Fang knew she loved him, he could see it in her eyes, and she'd never lie to him. Fourthly Max never called herself Maximum, let alone signed any letters with the name. And lastly, the letter wasn't even in Max's handwriting.

That meant that someone was trying to make it look like Max had runaway, and the only reason someone would do that would be to cover up a kidnapping.

**A/N**

**Me:**** Plllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaaassssssseeee review! I'm really bummed that nobody's reviewed yet. I won't make any threats like 'I'm not gonna post till you review' or anything. But it would be super nice to know what you guys think.**

**Iggy:**** *mouth stuffed with ice cream* Ywa pwease rebew. **_**(Translation:**__**Yeah, please review)**_

**Me:**** Iggy, your talking with you mouth full.**

**Iggy:**** S'bo? **_**(So?)**_

**Me:**** Well, nobody can understand you.**

**Iggy:**** Ywa bey cwan. **_**(Yeah they can.)**_

**Me:**** Iggy, I'm putting translations after your sentences.**

**Iggy:**** Ooooobb **_**(Ooooohh)**_** *swallows ice cream* Better now?**

**Me:**** Much.**

**Max:**** WHO THE FREAK TOOK MY ICE CREAM?**

**Wander and Iggy:**** Uh-oh. *turn to eachother* Run. *bolt out the door***


	8. Author's Note

Author's Note:

I know that this is probably not what you're wanting to see right now, and yes, I hate Author's Notes in a story too, but it seems that one of the words I typed up in Chapter 6 has mysteriously disappeared. Or at least it did when I looked up my story last night to make sure there were no mistakes, and guess what? Yeah, I know that was a pretty lame guess what since I told you what this update was for before that but whatever. It should be pretty easy to spot where the missing word is, it is hassle by the way, the word. So why am I not just going back and editing the story? Because when I looked back at my Word Document, the word hassle was there! Mysterious indeed. I think I might go call Sherlock Holmes to get this investigated. ;) Sorry again for no chapter updates, but I promise I'll start working on the next one tonight.

Thank you for your patience,

Wander


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**A/N**

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own MR. If I did Fang would have never left, Angel wouldn't have turned evil, Dylan would have died a horrific death 2 seconds after he showed up, Maya would have disappeared off the face of the planet, Gazzy would use his deadly farts to kill Jeb and all the whitecoats, Fang would have never kissed Lissa, Max and Fang would go get married, and Iggy would get his eyesight back. Happily ever after. Too bad it didn't happen that way. (Or at least to my knowledge it didn't, I haven't read the whole series, the whole Dylan and Maya thing pissed me off too much.)**

**Me:**** Hey, everybody! And thank you so much for reviewing! **_**Lolajam77, feather flyer, iBoopYourNose, Lucykins14, and .Dance**_** you guys are awesome! Thank you soooooo much!**

**Iggy:**** You should have seen her she was practically jumping up and down when she saw you guys' reviews.**

**Me:**** Yeah, I was really excited.**

**Iggy:**** Thankfully Max was no where near us when that happened. She's still out to kill us for eating her ice cream.**

**Me:**** She did offer to share.**

**Iggy:**** We ate the whole thing.**

**Me:**** That's true…**

***moment of awkward silence***

**Me:**** I miss BFF right now. Do you think Max will forgive us if we buy her ice cream?**

**Iggy:**** Maybe, it's worth a try, anyways, I like sleeping in a bed. I've been spoiled since I started living in the imaginary house in your head.**

**Me:**** Actually the house isn't imaginary—well parts of it are, but mostly it's just you guys who are imaginary. **

**Iggy:**** Ok…**

**Me:**** Well let's go get ice cream and pray Max sees it before she kills us.**

**Iggy:**** Don't forget it has to be cookie dough or we don't stand a chance.**

Fang's POV

Fang looked down at the forged letter in his hand. How dare someone try to impersonate Max? Oh, if he ever found whoever did this and kidnapped Max, they'd have hell to pay, because that's right where he'd send him, or her, whoever did this. He could feel his anger rising like a tidal wave, but he had to stay calm. Blowing up from his anger wouldn't help him find Max.

"Max didn't write this." He said as calmly as he could to the sheriff.

The sheriff and the woman across the table from Fang looked up at him in shock.

"Son, I know it's hard to accept, but—" The sheriff began.

"No," Fang cut him off calmly. "Look, this isn't even her hand writing, and sorry? Max never says sorry, or calls herself Maximum."

The woman looked like she believed Fang, but the sheriff didn't look convinced.

"I know Max's handwriting better than my own, sir. I'm telling you this isn't hers." Fang pleaded with him.

"Sheriff, he does have a point—" The woman said, but the man cut her off.

"Look, I understand that you're heartbroken, son, but denying the truth won't help."

Fang was flabbergasted. The man wouldn't even listen to him. _Great man of the law, he is._ He thought sarcastically. No wonder there are so many cold cases.

"But sir, this letter is a fake. I can prove it to you. I have some letters at home from Max, you can compare the two. Do your tests, whatever. But I'm telling you, this letter wasn't from Max." He protested against the man.

The man simply looked at him with a spark of annoyance. "Come on, Kristina, we've got bigger fish to fry."

With that he left, Kristina following him. She glanced back at Fang, he could tell she believed him, but she wasn't willing to speak up against her boss. She could lose her job for doing that. The younger cop from earlier came in and escorted Fang back to the rest of Max's family and his mother and Nudge who had just arrived.

"Fang, honey, are you okay?" His mother asked him, looking over him and taking his face in her hands, inspecting it. Even his mom called him Fang. _Guess that's why I find it so annoying when somebody uses the excuse of calling me by the name my parents gave me when they call me Nick._** (A/N Was that sentence as confusing to you as it is to me?)**

"I'm fine mom." He whined trying to get out of her grip.

"No, you're not." She said in a tone somewhere between concerned and 'don't lie to me young man'.

"No," He whispered so only his mother could hear. "I'm not." A concerned sadness filled her face.

"Fang!" He heard Nudge call out. _Oh, no, here comes the Motormouth._ "Are you okay? Where's Max? She hasn't responded to any of my texts or calls. Is something going on? Is she okay? Did something happen? Why were the police interrogating you?" _Nobody's told her yet._ Fang realized with a pain. He needed to tell her.

"Nudge." He said painfully as Nudge began to start yet another string of questions. "Max isn't here."

"What? Well where is she? Oh, my God, she's not at the hospital is she? She isn't hurt is she? How bad is—" She spouted out.

"Nudge." Iggy warned. She stopped and looked at Fang's face. She must have seen something because she shut up.

"Max is missing." He said. It was one thing to hear it, one thing to think it, but to say it? Somehow it made it real, and that hurt worse than anything, but he continued, knowing if he waited it would only prolong his suffering. Well, the suffering of having not told Nudge, not the suffering he was going through with Max missing. That would only go away when he found her alive and well. "The police thought for some reason I kidnapped her, so they brought me in for questioning. Then the sheriff came in with this," Fang handed the letter to Max's father. "and said that I was free to go."

Max's father opened the letter carefully. He read it silently and then stared at it for a moment. His eyes narrowed.

"What's it say?" Iggy said with a bit of impatience seeping into his concerned voice.

Max's father handed it to his wife and she read it aloud.

"_Dear Family,_" She began softly. "_I'm going_ _to start by saying I'm sorry, but I can't pretend that what happened didn't happen. I can't pretend that he won't get out and he won't find me._" She paused for a moment and looked at her husband. Worry creasing on both their foreheads, Iggy's blind eyes widened with shock, there was recognition in them. "_I'm sorry, but I can't put you all in danger by staying with you, and please tell Fang I'm sorry but I never loved him and that he should move on in his life without me._" She looked at Fang for a second before continuing, Fang didn't meet her gaze."_Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I love you all dearly. Goodbye, Maximum._" She finished and folded the paper back up. Nudge looked on the brink of tears, Iggy looked scared and confused, Max's father looked angry, his wife held a calm expression, but Fang could see the tension in her jaw, Fang's mother looked sad and tried to comfort her son.

"How could the police believe that letter?" Max's father said angrily. "It's not even in her handwriting."

So Max's father had noticed too.

"I told them that, but they wouldn't listen." Fang said angrily. Nudge, now realizing the letter had been a fake looked angry and scared, and maybe a bit confused. "Apparently they have 'bigger fish to fry'."

At this Max's father's face turned as red as a tomato. He was livid. He turned around, and headed toward the sheriff who was talking to his deputy. _Uh-oh._ Fang thought. _This can't end well._

"How dare you?" Mr. Ride screamed. "How dare you ignore the fact that my daughter is missing? How dare you call that sad excuse for a forgery my daughter's letter?" He grabbed the man and slammed him into the wall. "How dare you call my daughter unimportant?"

Fang just stood there shocked. Max's father just told off a cop, and not just any cop. _The sheriff._ He couldn't help the small smile that cracked across his face as he saw the cop's terrified expression.

_Karma's a bitch, ain't it?_

The smile disappeared though as soon as Mr. Ride was surrounded by a half a dozen more cops who wrestled the struggling man to the ground.

"Jeb!" His wife called out as she saw this and ran to him, but a cop held her back.

The officers picked Max's father off the ground and forced him to stand.

"Dad?" Iggy called out worriedly. "Fang? What the hell is going on?"

Fang took a moment to respond.

"Iggy, I think they're arresting your dad."

"What?!" Iggy yelled, and tried to run off in the direction of his father's struggling, but Fang held him back.

"Let me go!" Iggy screamed out.

"No, Iggy." Fang whispered to him in his ear. "I'm going to need your help to find Max, and it might be the only way to bail your dad out of jail."

Iggy stopped struggling and scowled in Fang's direction, but missed him by a foot and was effectively scowling at Nudge.

"What are you scowling at me for?" Nudge asked angrily.

Realization dawned on Iggy's face.

"Sorry," He quickly apologized. "I was trying to scowl at Fang."

Nudge nodded then remembered Iggy couldn't see. "Okay, Iggy." She said then added. "Try another 30 degrees to the right."

"Thanks." Iggy said and then turned fully towards Fang and scowled again.

The sheriff got off the ground where he had been unceremoniously dumped in the struggle. He wiped blood from his mouth and stood before Max's father as he was handcuffed.

"Jeb Ride, you are under arrest for the assault of a police officer. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do will be held against you in the court of law—"

Mr. Ride spat in the man's face and said something that rhymes with the words 'duck' and 'two'.

"That's it." The sheriff said. "Take him away."

The officers ushered Max's father down the hall towards the cells.

**A/N**

**Me:**** So, Max's dad got arrested. ;) I've always wanted for Jeb to get arrested and spend some time in a cage like he forced the Flock to be in so many times. Too bad he's a good guy in this story.**

**Iggy:**** That's seriously screwed up, why can't the bad Jeb get arrested and the good Jeb not?**

**Me:**** That's not how the world works.**

**Iggy:**** Ugh.**

**Me:**** Quit complaining and help me find that ice cream or we're gonna die!**

**Iggy:**** Okay, okay, I'm working on it. I am blind you know.**

***2 seconds later***

**Me:**** Found it!**

**Iggy:**** Seriously? *annoyed sigh***

**Me:**** Quit being such a downer, I'll get you some candy too if you want.**

**Iggy:**** My mother told me not to accept candy from strangers.**

**Me:**** You don't really have a mother.**

**Iggy:**** Exactly! Now fork that yummy delicious sugar over!**

(Oh, yeah, and here's the website where I originally found the artwork for my cover art. I edited it a bit, but you should be able to tell which one it is. So here's the website's address: shamanda/fax-of-maximum-ride-3/g-6o3mqOhviO8ifqkjk sssp2r )


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own MR, Lucky Charms, My Little Pony, or Oreos, but I do own an array of super stealthy ninja stuffed animals. **

**Iggy:**** Yay! Sugar! Yay! *eats three candy bars in one bite***

**Me:**** Iggy! You're going to have a sugar crash! Don't eat it all at once!**

**Iggy:**** No I'm n- *crashes from sugar high and falls to the ground***

**Me:**** Iggy!**

**Iggy:**** *snores and starts talking in sleep* …hmmmmm…pretty lamas.**

**Me:**** Wow. Okay…I'm never giving him sugar again. **

**Iggy:**** …no, come back here pink lama panda…give me back my Oreos.**

**Me:**** *shakes Iggy's shoulder* Come on, Iggy, wake up!**

**Iggy:**** No! I don't wanna…I wanna go to Strawberry Shortcake's house…**

**Me:**** *hysterically laughs* Oh. My. Freaking. God. This. Is. So. Funny. I. Must. Video. Tape. *pulls out video camera***

**Iggy:**** …mmmmmm…Fang? Can I wear your tutu?**

Fang's POV

After Max's father was arrested the rest of her family, Nudge, and Fang went home. His mother drove Iggy and his mother, who was quite hysterical, home. Ms. Martinez gave her son the keys to her car and told him to meet her at home after he dropped off Nudge. The Ride's house wasn't too far from their house, so his mom said she'd walk back.

Nudge didn't talk the whole way back to her house, which was really, really weird. Fang was beginning to contemplate whether Nudge had been abducted by aliens when they approached her house. He stopped the car in her drive way and she got out of the car. She walked toward her doorway and stopped. For some reason this cloud of sadness surrounding Nudge made her seem older.

"Fang?" She asked and looked around at him.

"Yeah?"

"Please tell me if you guys find anything else. I want to help find Max." Her sad voice cut into him. Nudge was always happy and hyper and now…she just seemed…depressed.

"I will." Fang promised. "You can bet you're My Little Pony collection on it." He tried to joke, Nudge was Max's friend. She was probably about as devastated by her disappearance as he was.

Nudge smiled and retreated into her house.

Fang started up the car again and pulled out of the drive way and then headed home.

It was dark when he got back home. The lights in the house were on, signaling his mother's presence. He parked the car in the garage and pondered over whether or not he should go check the mail.

Fang decided against it, he would check it in the morning. He was too tired at the moment. **(A/N I can hear screams of frustration :D Heheehehe guess you'll have to wait.)**

He trudged up to his room after saying good night to his mother. He hadn't eaten since breakfast, but he wasn't hungry, and that's saying something because he was always hungry.

His thoughts were filled with Max. Questions about her kidnapping and her condition, how she looked and felt when he was with her, he memorized every detail, how he felt around her, when she laughed, how he felt when his lips were on his, every memory, every conversation, and when she told him that she loved him too.

The thoughts, the memories, the worries, they just wouldn't let him sleep. He got out of bed and started pacing his room. He pulled out a notebook and started writing everything he knew about Max's disappearance and what has happened since then.

_Max has been missing since yesterday night._ He put down yesterday's date so as not to become confused later on.

_The cops thought I kidnapped her. Now they don't._

_There was a forged letter they found in Max's house that they're claiming is evidence. But it's not even in her handwriting._

_The cops are calling this a runaway case and won't think anything else to the contrary. They won't even help._

_The letter said something about running away from some guy. Iggy seems to recognize who this person is. I need to ask him._

_From the letter this person seems to be pretty dangerous._

_Whoever wrote this letter must know a lot about the family's history because I don't even know who this person is that they're talking about in the letter._

_Mr. Ride went ape shit when I told him that the cops weren't going to help. He doesn't seem to like cops very much, so I need to talk to him. Which may prove difficult since he's in jail._

_I've enlisted Iggy's help in finding Max and Nudge wants to help too so I'm going to call them both tomorrow and we can talk about whoever this guy is and try to piece together this whole puzzle to find Max._

Fang sighed and leaned back. That was all the information he had on the case so far. It felt so much better to have it all down on paper. Now he couldn't forget. He felt like he could relax a bit. _Max I'm coming._ He thought and walked over to the window. For some strange reason he felt like looking at the stars.

He looked out his window. The stars shined brightly tonight. The crescent moon glowed in the darkness. Fang breathed in deeply, taking in its beauty. He really wished Max could be here right now. Looking up at the sky with him.

He sighed and his head fell, he closed his eyes and sudden sadness gripped him. What he'd give to have her in his arms again-

Fang opened his eyes again and tensed up. He gazed down at the sidewalk. A man stood there, looking straight up at him. Fang felt shivers go down his spine. He couldn't see the man clearly, he was shrouded in darkness, but he could almost feel the man smile. He wondered for a moment if that man was Death, and then pushed the ridiculous thought aside. Death wasn't a person.

Still, Fang watched the man closely as he turned and walked away down the street. He entered a house a few doors down from him and disappeared.

Mystery Man's POV **(A/N It's not really much of a mystery when you think of it)**

The man looked up at the house. This was so easy. Too easy. Where was the fun? The boy's house was just a few doors down from the one the girl lived in. Which was only a few doors away from the house he was staying in.

It hadn't been too hard to find Nick Martinez's house. Now all he had to do was break in, chat for a bit, kill the boy, and drag the body back to his grieving girlfriend. The man seethed at the word girlfriend. She was his. No body else's. _His._ This would be punishment for her trying to move on without him. For _cheating _on him. He was going to enjoy killing this boy. A devilish grin spread across his face.

A light came on in the window of the upstairs room. The man stared up at it, wondering if this was the boy's room or his mother's, no man seemed to live in the house. Just the mother and her son. Soon it would be just the mother, if even that. He pondered for a moment whether or not he should kill the mother too, but decided against it. Grief is worse than death. _Either way,_ he thought to himself. _I'd like to have my way with her first._

A figure appeared in the window after a bit. It was the boy, Nick Martinez. He was staring up at the sky. The man's hand twitched for the gun in his pocket. He so desperately wanted to kill the boy, but he wanted to talk to him first. He wanted to see the fear and horror in the boy's eyes. He wanted for the boy to know who had Max, who owned her. _Me. Nobody else._ The man thought with a dangerous glint in his eye.

The boy sighed and looked down at the street. He caught sight of the man and tensed up. This made the man smile. _Oh, you should be scared little boy._ The man thought to himself before turning around and heading back to his temporary house. He opened the door and closed it behind him. He walked down the hallway and stopped by the last door. The man sitting down in the chair beside it nodded to him. _Ugh, I hate cops,_ He thought to himself. _Even corrupt ones._

He took the keys from his back pocket and unlocked the door. Then he pushed it open with an evil smile on his face.

"Maxi, I'm home."

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! What did you think? Yeah, I know Dylan's creepy and messed up. It creeps me out so much, I hate writing in his POV. Oh, by the way if you didn't catch it, Dylan is the Mystery Man. I just thought you should probably see how truly fudged up he is. Yes I just used fudge to replace that not so nice word. Mom, I'm sure you'll be reading this sooner or later, so I'll just say it now. Sorry, I love you! Please don't take away my fuzzy blanket! Lol**

**Iggy:**** …mmmmmmm…fuzzy blanket…**

**Me:**** Oh, yeah, Iggy's still unconscious from his sugar rush. I'm carrying him back to my place now, where everybody else is. I took about an hour's worth of video of him saying the most outrageous things. It was freaking awesomesauce!**

**Iggy:**** No! Baby baboon…come back here with my Lucky Charms!**

**Me:**** Like that for instance. Man, I really wish I'd gotten that on camera…ugh. Crapola, Iggy! You weigh a lot more than you look like you do! Wait, this is in my head! I can make him float through the air if I want to!**

***Iggy starts floating through the air***

**Me:**** Koolio! **

**Iggy:**** …mommy? Can I go over to…Wander's house? We have a kissing date.**

**Me:**** *blushes* Ummmm, Iggy, can you please wake up? **

**Iggy:**** Don't wanna…imagination is cool…**

**Me:**** Yes, imagination is the freaking bomb diggity** (sorry, don't know how to spell it)**, now can you pleeeeease wake up?**

**Iggy:**** Noooooo… *moans***

**Me:**** IGGY!**

**Iggy:**** Ahhhhhhh! *wakes up and falls to the ground* Ouch. *rubs his head* What was that for?**

**Me:**** *blushes* You had a sugar rush and were saying stuff in your sleep.**

**Iggy:**** What kind of stuff?**

**Me:**** You asked your mom if you could go to my house for a kissing date. *blushes again***

**Iggy:**** Oh. *blushes red as a tomato* Well, this is awkward.**


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10!

**A/N**

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride, Crayola, Dirty Jobs, or a sparkly unicorn.**

**Me:**** Hey, guys how's it going?**

**Iggy:**** Oh, yeah and if you're wondering how the ice cream fiasco worked out, well, we lived.**

**Me:**** That's kind of obvious. Max gave us 5 minutes to live after she saw the cookie dough ice cream, but we had to go get her five more gallons worth and ice cream for everybody else before she'd let us continue living after that.**

**Iggy:**** Let's just say we ran like hell to the store and came back within about three minutes.**

**Me:**** Yeah, I don't think I've ever run that fast.**

**BFF:**** I think you ran faster when you were running from me in chapter 1.**

**Me:**** Yeah, probably. Sorry, Max, BFF is much scarier than you.**

**Max:**** You sure about that? *turns into giant monster and tries to scare Wander***

***everybody else runs away***

**Me:**** Nope. *popping the p* BFF is definitely scarier.**

**Max:**** Well, damn.**

Max's POV

All she could do was sit there and wait. All she could hope for was that Fang and the police would find her. All she could think about was Fang and worry whether or not Dylan had gotten to him and all she could wish for was that Dylan would get run over by a bus.

She really hoped her letter had gotten to Fang instead of it ending up in some storm drain. The man outside the door had noticed Gazzy's Crayola ring on her shoelaces when he came in to give Max some food and then he took the ring away. She wouldn't be able to warn Fang again. A tear left her eye as the thought of Fang dead came to mind, dead because she couldn't send out a second letter to warn him. She began to sob, she hated this feeling so weak, but she couldn't help herself. Fang was everything. He had helped her to forget about what Dylan had done to her, even if Fang hadn't known he was doing it. Max should have warned him back then, but she was so naïve, so willing to accept that the worst was over.

She should have known better.

Max should have known Dylan better, he was capable of anything. Rape, murder, breaking out of jail, piece of cake for him. It was a wonder it had taken him so long to find her.

_He's been watching me for months._ Max remembered with a chill down her spine. _He's been watching us. Every smile, every joke, and every kiss between Fang and me for the last few months he's seen._ Max thought and trembled. _But if Dylan's so upset about me being with Fang, why didn't he kidnap me before?_

She paused and thought for a moment. Trying to understand Dylan's mind. It was a nasty business, reminded her of _Dirty Jobs_.

_Maybe he was waiting for me to break up with Fang and go back to him?_ It was stupid and illogical, but hey Dylan was a crazed psycho, so he could have been thinking that.

She sighed and sat down on her bed, it was freezing in the room. The measly amount of clothing Dylan had put her in did little to ward of the cold, and he'd even taken away the thin little blanket she'd had after they had fought earlier. Then after Dylan had left the man outside the door took her shoes upon discovering the Crayola ring tied to them, 'to make sure she didn't have anything else hiding in them' he said. _Yeah, because I keep Bowie knives in my shoes at all times._ Max thought sarcastically, rubbing her hands up and down her arms in an attempt to warm herself.

She heard the door rattle slightly. For a moment she hoped it would be Fang on the other side, come to rescue her. A stupid hope, but hey, she had to keep it alive or she'd lose it and any will to fight. Max was determined to fight. The door opened. All that hope? Yeah, it disappeared. Why? Because instead of Fang, Dylan walked through the door.

However the hope quickly returned along with her will to fight and she got into a fighting stance. Dylan laughed at this. Max's eyes narrowed. He obviously wasn't aware of her attendance to several fighting schools while he'd been in jail. Black belt didn't even cover it, try sparkly, bedazzled, neon purple belt with unicorns on it. Yeah, she was that awesome.

Dylan's ignorance could serve to her advantage. She didn't need to wait for her white knight to come, she could bust herself out. A smirk crossed Max's face for a second, but she quickly hid it so Dylan wouldn't see her confidence and become wary.

"Maxi, I'm home." He said with an air of arrogance.

"Home? That's what you call this freezing hellhole?" Max taunted, watching his every move.

"Well, we could cuddle," He replied with a sickening smile. "Be a bit warmer that way."

Max wrinkled her nose up in disgust. _Ugh, sooooooooo gross!_

"I'd rather freeze to death."

Dylan's eyes narrowed slightly in agitation, but he controlled his response otherwise.

"Well, I must admit you'd make one hell of an ice sculpture Maxi," He said, approaching her in the most nonchalant of ways, trying to get closer without Max's realization, but she realized and readied herself to strike. "But I prefer you as a warm and living person. You're more fun that way."

Max gulped slightly. She didn't like Dylan's versions of fun. They either involved beating someone to the brink of death or violating them, and usually both.

"And I would prefer if you had left me the hell alone and let me live the rest of my life in peace, but it looks like neither of us is getting what they want." Max said bravely with narrow eyes.

Dylan looked at her with a glint in his eye, a giant smirk crossed his face, and he came closer to her. She backed away, trying to keep the distance between the them, but bumped into the wall.

"Oh, Maxi, you still haven't learned," He said cornering her and pressing her up against the wall. "I always get what I want."

"Get away from—" Max screeched but was cut off by Dylan pressing his lips against hers. **(A/N ****BFF:**** Ugh, gross! ****Max:**** *barf* ****Fang:**** *seething*) **

Max struggled, trying to get away, but he hooked his arm around her waist and brought her closer to him. His other arm pinned her arms up against the wall, she was completely helpless, she couldn't do anything.

"You're mine Maximum." Dylan whispered in her ear before his lips crashed once more down upon hers.

She began to cry. This was it. He was going to do to her what he'd done to those poor girls. He was going to take something precious from her, something she'd hoped to give to Fang on their wedding night. If one thing was certain to her it was that. She loved Fang and he loved her, so marriage was inevitable for them. Max and Fang were soul mates, but after Dylan does this to her, takes that from her, will Fang even look at her again? Max began to cry harder at the thought.

Dylan presses harder into her groping her. Max grimaces against his horrible lips. She wouldn't give it to him willingly, that was for damn sure. She struggled, but it was no use. She hoped he would lose hold of her somehow so she'd be able to get away.

He forced his tongue into Max's mouth. It was disgusting. If she could have barfed, she would have. She bit down hard on it, wanting so desperately for it to be out of her mouth.

Dylan reeled back, his hand to his bloody mouth.

"You bitch, you bit me!" He said, his words slightly slurred by his injured tongue.

"Thanks for those enlightening words of wisdom Captain Obvious." Max spat at him. "Don't you get it? I. Don't. Want. You." She grinded out before punching him in his unexpecting gut. He doubled over and she kicked him with as much power and anger as she could and he fell to the floor. "I don't love you. I love Fang. I will never, ever be yours. No matter what you do." With that she kicked him again, this time in the head. Dylan collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Max dusted her hands off of each other as if she had just been touching something dirty, which she had, Dylan. Then she headed for the unlocked door.

All Max could think of was freedom and Fang.

_I'm coming home, Fang. Leave the light on._

Max opened the door slowly and quietly walked out into the hallway. She was beginning to tip-toe down it and toward the front door when she heard movement behind her. She whirled around, something hit her head, and then there was just blackness.

**A/N**

**Me:**** Did you think Max would get away that easy? *evil laugh***

**Max**(In human form)**:**** This sucks, I get to be all bada$$ and then you just knock me out.**

**BFF:**** Well, the guy by the door did hit you in the back of the head with a metal chair.**

**Max:**** *huffs* **

**Fang:**** *wraps arms around Max* Don't worry, babe, I'll come to save you soon.**

**Max:**** *smirk* That is if I don't bust myself out first.**

***Max and Fang kiss***

**Me:**** Is this some kind of kissing contest or something?**

**BFF:**** Well, if it is- *grabs Tom and makes out with him* -we would totally win.**

**Me:**** *sigh***

**Iggy:**** Is this as awkward for you as it is for me?**

**Me:**** Worse, you're the one who said we had a kissing date in your sleep after I fanaticized about kissing you, remember?**

**Iggy:**** *blushes***

**BFF:**** What is this about a 'kissing date'?**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

**A/N**

_**Disclaimer:**_** My name is not James Patterson, therefore I do not own Maximum Ride. **

**Me:**** Hey, guys! And thank you so much for the reviews! I'm sorry **_**MusicWritingDance**_**, for some reason when I posted earlier it cut off your name. :/ Don't worry guys and girls, I plan to update as much as I can, and **_**lolajam77**_** I TOTALLY agree with you. Dylan is an evil man.**

**BFF:**** Okay, now, what is this kissing date business now?**

**Me:**** Well, you see, when we were getting you ice cream the first time, I got Iggy some candy…**

**Max:**** Uh-oh**

**Me: ****…and then Iggy had a sugar crash.**

**BFF:**** Then what?**

**Me:**** Ummmm…Iggy! You explain.**

**Iggy:**** What? No!**

**BFF:**** Explain. *scary voice***

**Iggy:**** Okay, okay, I said some weird stuff in my sleep and *mumble mumble mumble***

**BFF:**** What was that? I couldn't hear.**

**Iggy:**** *blushes* I asked my mom whether or not I could go to Wander's house for a kissing date.**

**Max:**** Hahaha sweetness!**

**Fang:**** Freaking hilarious! Please tell me you videoed it, Wander!**

**Me:**** Actually I did.**

**Iggy:**** *wide-eyed* You didn't.**

Fang's POV

_It was dark outside. Fang was walking down the road. Max held his hand. He was smiling. So happy, he'd just asked Max to marry him and she said yes. Then they had kissed. Fang could still feel her lips on his, even though they weren't there right now. He wished they were. She turned and smiled at him. Her face was as radiant as the sun. Max was beautiful, more beautiful to him than anything else in the world. She rose up on her tip-toes to kiss him and he leaned down. Their lips centimeters away from one another's when the street lamp above them began to flicker and then go out completely. _

_Fang reached out to grab Max, but she wasn't there anymore. _

"_Max?" He called out. "Max? Where are you?"_

_He heard a man laugh evilly in the distance, and then he heard Max scream._

"_Max!" He called out hysterically. "Max!"_

_She screamed again and he went to move toward the screaming, but for some reason his feet wouldn't move. They were stuck, and he was sinking into the ground but all he could think about was Max._

"_Max! Where are you? Please!"_

_She didn't respond, she didn't even scream. The man laughed again, and suddenly the darkness lifted. There was Max. Feet from him. Bloodied and motionless. Dead._

"_No!" He screamed and fell to his knees sobbing. The ground began to swallow him up faster. Soon only his head was above the surface. _

_The man's voice returned, but Fang couldn't see him. _

"_Too bad you couldn't save her." _

_Then the ground pulled him under._

Fang awoke with a start. His heart beat at a million miles a minute, he slowly tried to calm himself. Max wasn't dead. She couldn't be. She was Max.

Maximum Ride was invincible.

He wiped his hands down his face and found that it was wet. He quickly dried his face. He had to stay strong for Max, but he couldn't help it. He felt so weak without her. As if half of him wasn't here. _Maybe that's because half of me isn't here. Max is my other half._

Fang sat up slowly, and put his feet on the floor. It was the weekend now. He couldn't even express how thankful he was for that. There was no way he could go back to school today. With everybody asking questions, he wouldn't be able to take it. He wasn't as strong as Max was.

If this was bad for him, what was Max going through?

Fang shook his head and buried his head in his hands. _Don't think about it, Fang! Just focus on getting Max back._ He told himself getting up from his bed. He'd gladly trade places with Max if he could. Fang walked over to his closet and pulled on a shirt and a pair of pants. Then he looked over at the clock. 9:43

It was probably too early for him to call Iggy or Nudge, but he could try. He pulled out his phone, and called Iggy.

"Hello?" Iggy answered.

"Hey, Igs. Do you want to come over to my house to investigate?" Fang asked.

"How about we do the investigation at my house, there'd be more evidence over here I bet." He suggested.

"Sure, I'll have to tell my mom I'm coming over." Fang said mentally kicking himself for not having thought of that before. He felt incredibly stupid. This was the very reason he needed his friends to help him find Max.

"Okay."

"Hey, do you mind if I invite Nudge over?" Fang asked him. "She wants to help."

"Sure, but we should probably give her at least another hour to sleep."

"Yeah, okay, see you at your house."

Fang hung up his phone and headed downstairs where his mom was cooking breakfast.

The food smelled good, it always did, but somehow it just didn't affect him as much as it used to, and that's coming from a kid who ate like there was no tomorrow. Life wasn't the same without Max. Without her here, he just felt dead.

He sat down at the table, his mother sat down a plate in front of him, and then one at her own seat. Pancakes, eggs, and bacon. The eggs were scrambled, just the way he liked them. His favorite breakfast. Fang wondered for a moment if this was his mother's way of trying to make him feel better. His mother gave him a shoulder squeeze and sat down. Yeah, definitely trying to make him feel better. He looked up at her as she sat down. She met his gaze and he smiled. He was moved by her motion to help him, even though it hadn't really worked, but she didn't have to know that. His mother looked slightly relieved, though he could tell she knew he wouldn't be the same until Max was back.

They ate their breakfast in silence. It didn't take long to eat, but it was longer than usual.

"Mom?" Fang asked.

His mother turned to him. "Yes, sweety?"

"Do you mind if I go to Iggy's today?" Fang asked her, pleading with his eyes.

"Of course, I don't mind, just make sure you're home for dinner."

"I will."

"Oh!" His mother exclaimed, catching her son's attention as he got up to clean his plate at the sink. "And before you leave, could you check the mail? I didn't get a chance to yesterday."

"Yeah, no problem," Fang said, heading for the door. "Just give me a minute. I'll be right back in with it."

He walked out the door and went over to the mailbox. He opened it up with an autopilot-like behavior. Fang reached in and grabbed the various bills and junk mail and pulled them out. Something fluttered to the ground and he bent down to pick it up. He grabbed it and looked at it.

"A paper airplane?" Fang mused aloud, turning it over. His jaw dropped along with the rest of the mail in his other hand. "Holy—" He began and then stopped himself, remembering there were little ears around here. He didn't want Angel or Gazzy, his six and eight year old neighbors, learning to curse from him. They were still so cute and innocent.

On the side of the letter it said:

_**Please, whoever finds this take it to this address:**_

_**778 Woodshire Ln. Gatlin, AZ XXXXX**_

_**This is life-or-death so don't blow this off!**_

And it was in Max's handwriting!

Fang could have leapt for joy just at seeing that. Just that tiny bit of contact between him and Max was like drinking ten Monsters. He opened it up and began to read.

_**Dear Fang,**_

_**I love you, I love you so much! I just had to write that before I could get anything else out. I don't know what the police are saying, Dylan, well you probably don't know who he is, but more on that later, he probably planted some fake letter in my room telling everybody I ran away and that I don't love you or some kind of bull crap like that. But I do love you Fang, I always will, never doubt that. **_

_**Dylan kidnapped me and right now I have no idea where I am. It looks like I might be in a house. There's a small window, that's how I got this letter out to you, but I can't really see out of it so I don't have much information other than that. **_

_**I have to warn you about Dylan, he's crazy and he wants you dead. My dad and brother can fill you in on who he was exactly. I don't have enough room on this page to explain it all. Just whatever you do, stay in groups, large groups of people you know, people who will watch your back. You and your mom should stay at somebody else's house, he probably already knows where you live and is targeting you as you read this. My dad has a shotgun in his closet at home. If you need it, show this letter to my parents and they'll let you have it, don't worry, they're well armed, you won't be taking their only defense. Actually, it would probably be best if you just go stay with them.**_

_**Don't trust the police either, Dylan's got quite a bit of cash on him, and he probably owns two or three of them.**_

_**Fang, please don't go all heroics on me here, Dylan is dangerous, don't underestimate him. He'd kill you before you get a chance to say 'hello'. Hate to rain on your parade, but he could, and I can't live without you. Please, just listen to me. Stay safe, stay hidden, and no more shortcuts through alleyways on the way home.**_

_**I love you,**_

_**Max**_

Fang finished reading the letter and folded it back up into its paper plane form before sticking it in his hoodie pocket. His actions were calm, but he was filled with rage. Fang was going to beat the living crap out of this Dylan guy for kidnapping Max. As for Dylan killing him, as if! But Max was worried about it, and that was a cause for major concern, because that was the girl who took boxing weight champions out in her spare time, and some times Fang could beat her. He tried not to think about it, because you know the whole testosterone thing, but he wondered sometimes if Max let him win. Then he'd shake his head and tell himself 'no way'.

_Dylan probably knows where you live._ The thought kept coming back to his head. If Max was right about this guy, neither he nor his mother would be safe in the house any more. He had to tell her. His mom wouldn't take this very well. She loved this old house. Then there was the thought of someone wanting her son dead. He'd probably be home schooled for the rest of his life, but he wasn't about to risk his only living relative for the sake of going to public high school. Fang picked up the rest of the mail and went inside.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Fang?"

Fang took out the letter and handed it to her.

"You're going to want to read this."

**A/N**

**Me: Hey, guys! So what do you think? Sorry if you don't like nightmares in stories, but I couldn't resist, I just love writing them, hence why my other story is called Nightmare. And I wasn't going to originally have Fang tell his mother about the letter in this story, but hey, in the words of the Voice, you've got to go with the flow.**

**Max: Oh, no! Not that again!**

**BFF: I loved the letter part! The 'I love you' parts were so great! I love it!**

**Me: You are so into romance.**

**BFF: And you are so into angels and smoking hot aliens.**

**Me: Touché, but you've got to admit Daemon Black is really, really hot.**

**BFF: And so is Iggy, isn't he Wander? *says loudly***

**Iggy: What was that?**

**Me: *whispers* Yes, he is, but could you not be so loud.**

**BFF: Uh-uh, I'm going to be using my matchmaker powers to get you two together.**

**Me: *dies of embarrassment***

**Iggy: Wander! *turns to BFF* What did you do to her?**

**BFF: Just go do CPR on her! Hurry up! Quickly!**

***Iggy uses CPR on Wander***

**Me: *lives again to find Iggy kissing her and then dies again***

**BFF: Just keep doing it. I'm sure it'll work eventually. *hidden evil smile***


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**A/N**

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride, but I do have a bunch of the books and they're currently sitting in my miniature library, also known as my room.**

**Me:**** Hey, guys! And sorry about the commentary being so long, I haven't really noticed how long it's been getting. So thank you **_**BlackFireIsAlive**_**. I'll try not to be as long but this A/N story is kinda like a second story to me, you know like a 2 for 1 special. It's really fun to write these things and some times I go a little over the top. So sorry for annoying you, but I can't stop writing these A/N's because, well, other people like them and so do I. I will try to make them more short and sweet, but I can't make any promises. **

**BFF:**** I'm sorry we talk so much!**

**Tom:**** But we really can't help it.**

**BFF: ****Because the only thing we really have to do in these A/N's is to talk.**

**Iggy:**** Maybe Wander should make another story where we all get together and do crazy stuff like in these A/Ns**

**Me:**** What do you think? Should I make that kind of story after I'm done with Runaway? Please review and tell me what you think.**

Max's POV

Max was slowly brought back to consciousness. Her senses, first vague and dull, became acutely aware of her surroundings, as well as the throbbing pain in her head. She groaned from the headache without thought, and then stifled it quickly, not wanting anyone to think she was awake, though she didn't remember why she cared.

_Where's Fang?_ Was her first thought, but then of course she remembered why that was. Dylan had kidnapped her, and now he was after Fang and wanted him dead. She started to panic, she needed to warn him! Then she remembered, she'd already done that. Slowly and painfully her memories came back to her. Right up to the point where she'd been knocked out. She'd caught a glimpse of the man who'd knocked her out. A deputy's badge flashed brightly in her mind. The man had been wearing that badge. Well, guess she wasn't wrong about Dylan buying at least one cop. She hoped beyond hope that Fang would listen to her warning.

Max cracked her eyes open slightly for a peek at her surroundings. She was in the same room she had been in before, but the environment around her had changed slightly. There were chains strapped to the walls, but there was nobody else in the room. She opened her eyes completely and went to sit up, as she did so she heard a loud clanging sound. Max looked over to the source of the noise to find a large metal chain wrapped around her arm. Her eyes widened suddenly. Dylan had chained her up in here. She wouldn't be able to escape.

She tugged on the chain, hoping stupidly that the chain would just fall away or that its end would tear out of the wall. But she knew it wouldn't be that simple, she'd need tools to break this chain. _That,_ She mused as she examined the hand cuffs chaining her to the chain, _or a key._

Max knew Dylan wouldn't be stupid enough to leave the key in her room, but she looked around anyway. He probably had it on him personally. That way the only person who could release her would be him. A feeling of dread coursed through her. How in the world was she going to get out? She'd sent Fang some clues, sure, but those clues would never be enough to find her. Her breath became ragged and choppy as fear settled in on the thought of being stuck there with Dylan forever. What if Fang didn't find her?

_No, no, no, no, no don't think like that. Fang's going to find you, you can't lose hope._ Max told herself, shaking her head to expel the doubtful thoughts. Fang would find her. He had to.

But then, what about Dylan? What if Fang found her and Dylan was here? What if he killed Fang while he was trying to save her?

Max was losing control of herself again. Her breath became quickened until she could barely breathe. The tears began to fall down her face, no matter how much she tried to hold them back. She couldn't let him die because of her. He couldn't find her here. She needed to bust out herself if they were to both survive.

She heard the door open and quickly wiped away her tears and composed herself. She wouldn't let Dylan see her break down.

Dylan entered the room cockily, though she noticed he was eyeing her a bit more. She was disturbed by his lingering eyes. She reached for a blanket instinctively, but realized that it still hadn't been returned to her. She glared furiously at him, wishing with all her might that she could dump a bucket of water on his head and that he'd melt like the Wicked Witch of the West.

"So, I see you've familiarized yourself with your new accommodations." He said with a sick smile.

"Yeah, they're great," Max said with sarcasm. "Really adds to the room."

Dylan's eyes narrowed at her tone, for the first time, Max noticed the police baton in his hand. Max shrank back. Knowing what Dylan was going to do. He smiled evilly and played along with her sarcasm.

"It really does, doesn't it? But it needs a little something else—a splash of color I should think." He said glancing around the room at the white walls before returning his gaze to her. "I think red would be a perfect color, don't you?"

He approached Max and she crawled as far away from him as she could.

"It's time for you to learn another lesson Max."

The baton fell fast and hard, crashing into Max's shoulder, rather than in her head for which the blow had been aimed, as she dodged. She cried out painfully and crashed onto the cold tile floor. She instinctually tried to crawl away beneath the bed, but Dylan grabbed her by her ankle and tossed her to the other side of the room.

Max got to her feet, she knew the beating would be worse if she fought. But she couldn't just take it, not like she used to. She had to fight. If she didn't she'd turn back into that scared little girl again.

He came towards her again. She stood up defiantly and looked for a weapon to defend herself with. Anything would do really. Then she realized she already had one on her, the chain. She took the chain in both arms, her left arm flared with pain as she did so. The baton must have fractured one of her bones. It hurt like hell, but she ignored it.

_Pain is just a message._ Her father always told her. _You can choose whether or not to acknowledge it._

She gritted her teeth and focused on the task at hand: Beating the living crap out of Dylan.

Instantly the pain in her arm lessened.

He swung the baton at her and she caught it with the chain just inches from her face. She wrapped the chain around the baton and twisted it out of Dylan's grip. He looked murderously at her and lunged at her. His hands found their way to her throat and she began to choke, suffocating. As darkness began to cloud her vision and little spots of light danced across her eyes, he finally let go. She took a huge gulp of air, then another, savoring its beautiful taste. Her heart pounded frantically. Dylan had almost killed her, and she would have never seen her family, her friends, or Fang ever again.

She choked as raw emotion burned throughout her, clawing up her throat and sending shocks through every nerve in her body from the tips of her fingers to her toes.

"The moral of that lesson was to never back talk me." Dylan spat. "The only reason you're alive is because I want you to be you ungrateful bitch."

He took her by her chain and yanked her up. Max cried out in pain as pressure was put upon her injured shoulder. When she was finally up, she glared at him.

"The moral of the next lesson is to never cheat on me." His eyes turned icy cold. Max's eyes widened and she begged once more for Dylan to leave Fang alone. This was met with a backhanded slap across the face.

"I told you I'd make you regret bringing this boy into this and I don't break my promises." He said walking for the door. Max grabbed for him, but he punched her in the gut, making her fall to the floor. Max may be skilled in fighting, but she was no match for Dylan's raw power. "I'll be back in an hour or so, it seems that his mother's left him home alone."

**A/N **

**Me:**** DUN DUN DUN!**

**BFF:**** Oh, no the suspense! It's killing me! *fake dies***

**Tom:**** BFF! *cradles her and sobs***

**Me:**** Sheesh Tom, she's still alive, she just played dead. You two are worse than Max and Fang.**

**Max and Fang:**** Hey!**

**Me:**** *eyebrow***

**Fang:**** Fine, Max is an over the top dramatic too.**

**Max:**** Fang!**

**Me:**** Don't deny it Fang, I read JP's third MR book. You completely freaked out for a moment when they told you Max was dead, and then you went into complete denial that she might have died, saying 'the world still felt the same and therefore Max must still be in it.'**

**Fang:**** She wasn't dead.**

**Iggy:**** Awe, come on Fangles! We all know there's a soap opera star hiding somewhere under there!**


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

**A/N**

_**Disclaimer:**_** If I owned Maximum Ride, Dylan would not exist.**

**Me: **_**Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer… **_***singing***

**BFF: Ummm, Wander why are you singing Christmas songs in June?**

**Me: I don't know, would you rather me sing something else?**

**Fang: Yes, please.**

**Me:**_** It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all…**_

**Fang: No, no anything but that! Please!**

(For some reason I was thinking of the Lion King)

Earlier that day (time between chapters 11 and 12)

Fang's POV

Fang watched as his mother read Max's letter. Her face became paler with each word she read, by the time she finished the letter she could have easily passed for a vampire.

She looked up at him and opened her mouth, closed it, looked down at the letter again, and then back up at her son.

"Mom?" He said, reaching out to her and grasping her forearm. "We need to go now, it isn't safe here anymore. We need to go to Max's house."

His mother bit her lip and glanced around at her kitchen before returning her attention to her son and nodding. She seemed a bit beyond words right now. Fang gently took the letter from her and told her that they should pack. She went to her room and he went to his.

He grabbed the essentials, bathroom supplies, his iPod, his phone (which he put in his pocket), the chargers, and a half dozen pairs of clothes. Then he threw them (all but the phone that is), rather messily, into his suitcase that he'd taken out of his closet.

Fang didn't want to leave his house anymore than his mother did, but they had to. Max had said that the man who had kidnapped her was dangerous. He wanted Fang dead. She told him to go to her parents' house. There he and his mother would be at least relatively safe there. Being stupid and staying here wouldn't help him find Max, if he got killed. That would seriously hinder their efforts to look for her, especially when he and his mother were currently the only people who really knew who had Max.

Anger boiled up inside him as he thought of Dylan, Max's kidnapper. If he laid a finger on Max's pretty little head…well, just imagine the worst way a person could be killed and that would be what Fang would do to him. Better yet, go watch a marathon of A Thousand Ways To Die, then imagine it. The picture might become a bit clearer.

He zipped up his suit case and started walking out his bed room door when he noticed something on his desk. The notebook. It had all his clues from last night in it. He picked it up and put it into the large pocket of his suitcase. He'd have to update it later. There were more pressing matters at hand.

Fang carried his suit case down to the garage, the garage door was closed so nobody outside could see what he was doing. Suddenly he was thankful for the paranoia Max had bestowed upon him over the years. It might have just saved his skin, because a garage door closing for no apparent reason would have surely raised Dylan's suspicions if he was indeed watching the house.

Max was always extremely diligent in her duties of locking up the house. Locking the doors, locking the cars, setting the alarm, she even locked the garage door with this heavy duty lock. Fang had never understood why she was so paranoid about it, but he was getting the nagging suspicion that Dylan may have been the reason for it.

He opened up the truck and threw his suitcase in as quietly as he could, which was practically noiseless seeing as he was quiet most of the time. He'd even been able to sneak up on the super aware Maximum Ride before. Now that was a feat.

His mother walked into the garage with her suitcase. Fang grabbed it and tossed it silently into the trunk as well before closing it without so much as a noise.

"Fang," She said, her car keys in hand, "I want you to lie down on the floor boards in the back."

"Okay," Fang said, he was quite willing to follow his mother's orders, but he was curious. "But why?"

"If this Dylan character is watching the house, I don't want him to know you left with me. After all, he's after you, so he'd be focusing on you, right? If he thinks you're still here, he won't give me a second glance. Then we'll be able to sneak you to safety." She explained.

Fang nodded. It sounded like a good plan to him.

His mom opened up the driver's side door and got in. Then Fang opened up his door, got in, closed the door behind him, and laid down flat on the floor of the car. It wasn't exactly comfortable.

The garage door opened, and for some reason he suddenly got nervous. What if his mother got pulled over for speeding or something? It'd be pretty hard to explain why he was lying on the floor of the car. _'Oh, I'm just hiding down here so I can escape my house which is under watch by some crazy guy who wants me dead and who kidnapped my girlfriend.'_ Fang scoffed at the thought as his mother started up the car and began to pull out of the garage. _Yeah, I see that going over very well._

"Call Iggy and tell him we're on our way," His mother ordered, "And tell him to have the garage cleared so we can get in."

Fang nodded, his mom didn't want Dylan, by off chance, to spot him getting out of the car either. He pulled out his phone and dialed Iggy's number.

"Hey, what's up?" Iggy said.

"Hey, my mom and I are coming over." He replied.

"Why's your mom coming over? Doesn't she go to work today?" Iggy questioned him.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you when we get there, but can I ask you a favor?"

"Yeah, dude, no problem."

"Can you clear the garage for my mom's car and then close it once we're inside?"

"A strange request," Iggy commented. "But request granted, I'll see you guys in a few."

"Okay, see you in a few."

Fang closed the phone, hanging up.

His mom backed out of the drive way, every little bump sent jolts through him. Suddenly Fang missed the soft cushioned seats. The floor was dirty and there were a few gum wrappers under the seat. A large book poked into his side, he cautiously moved into a slightly more comfortable position.

The Ride's house was only a few doors down, but the driveover there seemed to take forever. But soon enough they were inside the garage with the door closing behind them.

The door finally shut behind the car and Fang crawled out of the car to greet Iggy.

"Hello, Fang, Ms. Martinez." Iggy greeted from the small door opening into the house. Fang and his mother walked inside and were greeted by Mrs. Ride as well.

"Hate to be rude, but why are you here, Valencia?" Mrs. Ride asked after saying hello.

"And why the covert operation to get you inside?" Iggy finished, a bit of humor in his voice, but for once, he was serious.

"Fang, show them what you found." Fang's mother told him.

He carefully removed the paper airplane from the pocket in his hoodie and gently unfolded it.

"I can hear paper, what is it?" Iggy said, Fang looked sadly at him as the boy's blindness became painfully aware to him.

Fang swallowed before speaking.

"It's a letter from Max."

**A/N**

**Me:**** Sorry guys if this chap kinda sucked, I wasn't really feeling it, but I needed the information in the story in order to get to where I want to go.**

**BFF:**** It took her forever to write this chapter, she hated writing it.**

**Me:**** It was so boring for me. I hope it wasn't so bad for you guys. But don't worry, I'll have tons of more action coming soon. We're going to reach the climax of the story soon.**

**Tom, Iggy, and Fang:**** YES!**

**Me:**** What can I say, boys like action.**

**Iggy:**** Now who's being sexist?**

**Me:**** Well, do you like action movies?**

**Iggy:**** Point taken.**


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey what's up people of the world?**

**P.O.T.W.(People of the World):**** The sky.**

**Iggy:**** Wow. Didn't see that coming. *sarcasm***

**P.O.T.W.:**** And bird kids!**

**Me:**** Now that was a good one. *smirks***

**Iggy:**** *smiles and sticks his tongue out***

**BFF:**** *uses Matchmaker powers and bumps Wander into Iggy***

***Wander falls onto Iggy***

**BFF:**** Score 1 for the Matchmaker! *whisper yells***

**Me:**** Ewww! Iggy! You licked my face!**

**Iggy:**** *wiping off tongue furiously* Swarry dibnt mbean tboo. **_(Translation: Sorry didn't mean to.)_

**BFF:**** Hmmmm, this might be harder than it looks.**

Fang's POV

After showing the letter to Mrs. Ride she let Fang and his mother stay at the house. Fang helped his mother unpack the trunk and he took both suitcases to the Ride's guest room, there was only one, and since the Rides had recently taken in the couch to be reupholstered **(A/N I have no idea if this is even the word I'm looking for, but it's supposed to mean to redo the outside of a clothed piece of furniture, or something like that.)** the only place left for him to sleep was Max's room.

Half of him wanted to just curl up in her room and not come out till Max was back, the other half of him wanted to avoid the room at all costs, as it would remind him of happy, and now painful, memories.

Still he found himself in Max's room. Fang didn't know how he got there. He didn't remember even coming that way. Now he stood in the middle of the room. He closed his eyes as the pain in his heart enveloped him. He fell onto Max's bed and buried his face in the giant bear Angel had gotten Max for her birthday last year. It smelled like Max. Sweet and light, like bubblegum and sunshine. The smell brought back so many memories. Kissing her after the football game by the little diner in the rain. They were both soaked, but they didn't care, they'd had each other. Now some madman had kidnapped her, and Fang had no idea where to look for her. He felt lost, even though the only really lost one was Max.

He remembered Max saving him from Lissa when the girl had jumped him and tried to stick her tongue down his throat.

"_Leave Fang alone." Max said, glaring at Lissa._

"_He's my boyfriend. I have every right to kiss him." Lissa replied._

_Max glanced at Fang, a look of deep hurt that crossed her face, but she quickly hid it. Fang saw it, however. He didn't understand at the time, but that look still cut him. It hurt worse than anything in the whole world._

"_I am not your boyfriend, Lissa." He said firmly. "Now would you please get off me?"_

_When she didn't get off of him, he shoved her off and strode over to Max. Then he took her hand in his and they walked home._

He thought of the memory fondly, that was the moment when he and Max had first started realizing their feelings for each other. It was a good memory, apart from Lissa being in it, but, he guessed, he did have to give thanks to Lissa for helping Max and him realize their love for one another. They may have never realized their affection for one another if it hadn't been for her.

Fang remembered asking Max if she would go out with him. He's been so nervous. A clumsy oaf, tripping over his own shoe laces while she walked beside him with the grace of an angel. He stuttered through the question and had to repeat himself several times before she could even understand what he was saying. Once she did, she smiled, showing off her perfect teeth, and said yes. Then Fang breathed a sigh of relief and gave a huge goofy grin, and then she hugged him. In that moment everything had felt like one giant jigsaw puzzle and Max had been the last piece. The most important piece. The one piece right smack dab in the middle of the picture that the puzzle couldn't look right without. And now the picture wasn't right.

He needed to find Max.

"Man, dude," Iggy said, walking into Max's room. Fang had no idea how Iggy knew he was in here, it was almost creepy the way Iggy could 99.99% of the time know exactly what was going on and know in what direction to look. It was even creepy the way he knew how to cook so perfectly. If Fang didn't know any better he'd think that Iggy had faked the whole blind thing. "I can hear you moping from downstairs." Funny since Fang hadn't made a sound.

Iggy sat on Max's bed beside Fang.

"You really are in love with my sister, aren't you?" He asked Fang, looking at him dead on with his blind eyes.

"Yes." Fang managed. What he really wanted to say was: _That question doesn't even deserve answering. Of course I love Max. She's the craziest, smartest, most sarcastic, beautiful person I know. She's my whole world._ He didn't say it, however, if Max had been there he would have, but without her, he felt himself returning to his old, not very talkative self.

"Good, because if you didn't I'd kick your ass." Iggy said with a smile.

Fang smirked. "I bet you would."

Iggy got up to move. "I'm going to call Nudge and tell her to come over. Your mom just left for work, my mom's going to sneak her back to the house afterward."

Fang nodded, and then paused for a second considering whether or not to ask Iggy about it. He grabbed Iggy's arm, he needed to tell her brother at least. Especially since her father was in jail. He had other questions, but he wanted to ask this one first.

"Iggy?"

"Yeah man?" He responded, a bit of confusion lingering in his voice.

"I wanted to ask you something, something about Max."

"Well, go on." Iggy urged.

Fang took a deep breath, he was nervous.

"When this is all said and done and she's back with us." He said certainty in his voice. He would get Max back. "Iggy, I want to ask for your permission to marry Max."

Iggy's jaw dropped and he didn't speak for a good five minutes. A slow smile etched across his face and into a goofy smile. "You want to marry Max?"

Fang nodded sincerely.

"I knew it! Yes!" Iggy jumped up in the air, surprising Fang, he'd expected as much from Nudge when she heard, but Iggy? Maybe Nudge and Iggy were more alike than he'd previously thought. "Of course, Fang, you definitely have my permission." He hugged Fang and Fang hugged him back thankful for the joyous reaction. "But if you hurt her, I promise you I will use you as target practice." Iggy threatened with a smile, but he wasn't joking, he was just still happy that Fang was going to ask Max to marry him.

"I believe it." Fang said, patting Iggy on the back and releasing him before returning to his somber tone. "But we need to find Max first."

Iggy nodded. Joy morphed into determination. "I'm going to go call Nudge."

**Me:**** So what'd ya think? **

**BFF:**** In the words of Nudge. OMZ!**

**Me:**** That stands for Oh. My. Zebras.**

**BFF:**** I 3 it!**

**Me:**** I loved it to.**

**BFF:**** OMZ! Wander admitted to liking something romantic! Loving it!**

**Me:**** Okay, yeah, so I like romance too…I'm just not as mushy gushy as BFF. I've been planning on having Fang ask permission from Max's father to marry her since the beginning, but since I listened to the Voice telling me to go with the flow, that idea kinda flew out the window. But I still wanted to use the idea of him asking permission to marry Max, because I find that extremely romantic. Then I remembered that guys sometimes ask the girl's brother for permission if the dad is dead or not around or etc. So Ta-da!**


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own MR, but I do own BFF, Tom, and this storyline. **

**A/N**

**Me:**** Thank you everybody for reviewing! Sorry for the long wait! **_**Njdaphne**_**, I most certainly will make a story with the whole gang then ;) And **_**maximum 15**_**, as requested I have 'given the man a flamethrower' **

**Fang:**** Woohooo! Iggy I can see why you like fire so much! This is great! *torches dummy with a picture Dylan's face pasted to it***

**Iggy****: Yeah I know, now can I have a turn?**

**Fang:**** Nope *popping the p***

**Iggy:**** Wander! *whines* Fang won't let me play with the flamethrower!**

**Me:**** Ugh. Max, I feel your pain, having to deal with these toddlers everyday? That's gotta suck sometimes.**

**Max:**** Amen to that, sister.**

**Fang and Iggy:**** Hey!**

Fang's POV

It didn't take long after Iggy had called her for Nudge to get there. She rang the door bell and Iggy went racing downstairs to answer it, nearly tripping over a chair on his way.

Nudge came in, looking more disheveled than usual, which translated literally to having a few hairs out of place. But for Nudge, that was a big deal. She looked around before Fang and Iggy motioned for her to come upstairs to Max's room.

They sat down on the floor of Max's room before Nudge spoke up.

"Thank you guys for calling, I really want to help." She said. "Have you guys found anything else?"

Fang pulled out the paper airplane once more, carefully unfolding it, and then handing it to the girl. Nudge read it silently. Fang watched as she read, looking at the letter with a certain amount of possessiveness. It was his one link to finding Max and he found himself cherishing the small paper airplane, every stroke of Max's handwriting on it, each word, and each new clue that could bring him closer to finding his love.

"Who's Dylan?" Nudge asked, looking at the letter for a moment longer before handing it back to Fang, who folded it back into its airplane form. He'd meant to ask that question himself after Nudge had gotten there, but it looked like she'd beaten him to it. Not that he was complaining.

Iggy sat up a bit straighter, looking uncomfortable.

"Iggy?" Fang asked, trying to coax the truth out of him.

Iggy took a deep breath and buried his head in his hands, rubbing his temples.

"I was really hoping I'd never have to hear his name again." He said, exhaustion permeating his voice.

"Who is he, Iggy?" Fang pressed, this man, however he was, had kidnapped Max. His Max. He needed to know who he was. He needed to know what he was up against in order to get her back.

Nudge scooted over to Iggy and wrapped her arms around him as the boy began to shake.

"It's okay, Iggy." She said soothingly, rubbing her hand softly in between his shoulder blades. Fang could see some of the tension melt away from the boy.

"He used to be Max's boyfriend," He said unsteadily, Fang couldn't help but stiffen slightly. "Before we moved here, that is." Iggy closed his blind eyes.

"It was years ago, Max and I got mugged in a parking lot. I know it's hard to believe now, but Max wasn't as good at fighting then as she is now, and she got hurt trying to protect me." Iggy choked a little at the memory. Fang felt a cold chill flow through him at the thought of Max getting hurt. It tore at him, breaking his calm façade. The pain shown clearly across his face, Iggy seemed to sense what Fang was feeling, even though he couldn't see it and shot him an understanding look.

"After that, dad became obsessed with finding Max a boyfriend," Iggy scoffed a little. "Crazy, huh? A dad trying to hook his daughter up with someone? So strange. But dad was scared she'd get hurt again when he wasn't around to protect her like he hadn't been on that night."

Fang understood the logic. He'd do anything to make sure Max was safe, even if she'd hate him for trying. _I can take care of myself._ She always said.

"We met Dylan on a trip to the movie theater. He was really nice, and he caught our parents' trust almost immediately. They were so willing to believe his smile, his manners. But Max and I hated him. She didn't want to be with him, and I didn't want him anywhere near my sister. I kept getting this weird vibe off of him, but I was stupid and didn't trust my gut. I kept my mouth shut." Fang could hear the regret in Iggy's voice, as if he blamed himself for everything that happened, for everything that was happening. Fang couldn't let him believe that, even if it was true, the only real person at fault for anything was Dylan.

"Iggy, it's not your fault." Fang said quietly. Iggy looked up at him, his eyes were slightly red, but he had a small smile on his face and Fang knew that was exactly what his best friend had needed to hear. Then he took a breath and continued.

"A few months after she and Dylan started dating I started noticing all these weird things going on, like when Dylan would move, Max would flinch, or Dylan would get this greedy look in his eye when he was staring at my sister. I started to get uneasy about him and I would try not to leave them alone together. I even barged in on one of their dates one time, **(A/N Three cheers for Iggy!) **Dylan was furious, but Max, well, she looked relieved when I got there and told her it was time to go home." Iggy took a deep breath. Fang didn't like where this was at already, and he had the feeling it was only going to get worse.

"Then one night, I heard all this yelling and screaming coming from Max's room. We'd gotten home early, my parents and I, we had gone to one of my school's football games. Max had said she didn't want to come. I should have known better, but I didn't realize that she'd had a pleading look in her eye as she said it. I ran upstairs and so did my dad, just in time to see Dylan beating her to a pulp." Fang's eyes widened. That jerk had beaten her? Anger and fear rose up like tidal waves within him. This Dylan had hurt Max. What if he was hurting her right now? Fang's fist clenched tightly, his nails bit into his skin to the point of almost breaking it.

"My dad knocked him out with Max's lamp." Iggy continued, it was almost like he couldn't stop now that he'd started. "Mom called the police. Dad was hysterical, but for some reason I just stood there looking at her. She was a bloody mess, she was barely breathing, and she looked dead. The police came and arrested Dylan, and then the ambulance came. The paramedics got there and checked her pulse. She was still alive and they quickly put her on a stretcher. By then I had started to become hysterical too, and they wouldn't let me get in the ambulance with her. I punched one of the policemen trying to hold me back. Then the ambulance left with my mother and my sister in it. That's the last time I saw her, on the way to the hospital my dad and I got into a wreck, that's how I lost my eyesight. One huge blow to the head and lights out. The doctors weren't even sure how I survived, or my sister for that matter."

Fang stared at Iggy. He'd never known how Iggy had lost his eyesight. He'd always assumed that he'd been born that way.

Max, beaten nearly to death had been the last time Iggy had ever seen her, his last image of her. Fang suddenly felt sick. Was Iggy haunted by that? Fang knew he would be.

Nudge held Iggy more tightly and he kissed the top of her head. She froze for a moment and then smiled. Fang raised an eyebrow at Iggy, but Iggy couldn't see it. He just smiled as he held her. _Iggy and Nudge have a thing for each other?_ Fang had never noticed before. Now he felt stupid for being so blind to it.

Iggy let out a sigh and closed his eyes. Fang thought the story was over, but Iggy spoke again.

"When I woke up a few weeks later, Max was already awake. They moved us into a hospital room together. When I learned that I had gone blind, I panicked, and Max, she helped to calm me down. I'm ashamed of it really, because I should have been the one there calming her down." He said sadly. "After that our parents came in with a police officer and said they needed to talk to us. Dad was pale. The officer told us they'd taken a sample of Dylan's DNA and they found it at two other crime scenes. The two victims, two girls, about Max's age, had been raped and strangled to death." Fang froze. _Victims? Girls around Max's Age? Raped and murdered?_

"What the hell do you mean?" Fang shouted, suddenly frantic. "Are you telling me Max's kidnapper is an effing serial killer rapist?"

"Yes, yes I am." Iggy said looking up.

**A/N**

**Me:**** So now Fang knows who Dylan is.**

**BFF:**** And how Iggy lost his sight.**

**Iggy:**** It's all so tragic. Does everything that can go wrong, go wrong with this family?**

**Me:**** Well, just about.**

**Max:**** Greeeeeaaaaaat…**

**Me:**** Hey, I didn't say that everything will go wrong. Sorry for keeping up the suspense **_**maximumgirl33**_**, but I am very glad you are interested in it. Don't let the suspense kill you, I promise you and ending worth waiting for. Please keep reviewing!**


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride, E-bay, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or Smashfries. *sad face***

**A/N**

**Me:**** What makes you happy?**

**BFF:**** Tom and Smashfries.**

**Max:**** Flying… *daydreams about flying***

**Tom:**** BFF and sleeping because I'm always tired. **(lol this is a shout out to you, Gabby's boyfriend)

**Iggy:**** Balloon animals, bombs, and sugar.**

**Max:**** Well, sorry mister, you can stick to the balloon animals and bombs, continue on Wander.**

**Me:**** Mountains upon mountains of books. *smiles* **

**Fang:**** Daydreaming about the various ways in which Dylan could die… *daydreams about Dylan dying* **(Please review if you agree!)

Fang's POV

Fang leapt to his feet. He was in a right panic, pacing around the room anxiously with his hands about ready to pull out his hair and make him a bald man. _Max. Max. Oh, my God, her kidnapper. He's a freaking rapist! A freaking murder! What is he doing to her?_ Fang cried out in his mind. He felt like screaming.

"We have to find her, like now!" Fang yelled. Nudge leapt to her feet as well, determination in her eyes.

"I know, Fang, but calm down. We have to think rationally." Iggy said with more calmness than Gandhi himself.

"Calm down? He's an effing rapist! A murder! You're her brother! Why the hell aren't you panicking? Eff rationality, we need to find her right now!" Fang cried out. _If Dylan lays one finger on Max, I swear I'll—_

"Fang!" Iggy yelled, grabbing his attention. "Think! You can't just race off without finding out where she is first! Dylan wants you dead! How's that going to help Max, huh?"

Fang fell to his knees. He felt so useless, so defeated. He had nothing. Just some letter a mailman had brought to his house…wait a mailman?

"There was a mailman." Fang whispered, almost to himself, the gears in his head turning.

"What?" Nudge asked, curious.

"There was a mailman." Fang said more clearly. "I found the airplane in my mailbox. The mailman must've found it and brought it to my house!"** (A/N We're just going to pretend that it couldn't just be some random person)**

"A paper airplane can't make it too far. That would give us a much smaller area in which to look." Nudge added. "And Max said she thought she was in a house of some kind, so we can rule it down to residential areas."

"We need to find that mailman." Fang said determinedly, getting back up and pacing the room once more. "When is the next delivery day?"

"Tomorrow." Iggy replied.

"Good, we need to wait for him. Do you know about what time he gets here to deliver the mail?" Fang asked him.

"It's around noon." Iggy said, standing up as well. Fang nodded. "But, Fang, there is one problem, or at least there is for you."

"What is it?"

"Dylan wants you dead."

Iggy didn't need to say anymore, Fang knew what he meant. If Dylan saw him coming out of the Rides' house, he'd be a dead man for sure, but he couldn't just stay inside either.

"I'll wear a hat and some colorful clothing. I won't even look like myself." He suggested, Iggy just shook his head.

"No, no way am I going to let my friend and _future brother-in-law_ go risk his neck, especially when Nudge and I can go get the information just as good as you can." He replied with a strange amount of authority and leadership that Fang had never seen in him before. That, for which he would appreciate under any other circumstances. He growled at Iggy angrily, even though the rational and logical side of him understood the boy's argument. Iggy just stared him down. Fang heard Nudge repeat 'future brother-in-law' in the background, but for once she didn't ask a billion questions. She must've shrugged it off as another one of Iggy's jokes.

"My sister loves you and I'm not going to let you risk your life and her heart for something as stupid as this. Now listen to me before I have to go tie you to a chair." He threatened. His voice taking on that tone Max's did when she was ordering people about, she was a natural leader, and so was Iggy apparently. _It must run in the family._ Fang thought to himself, continuing to give Iggy an icy glare, which of course was lost on him.

"Fang," Nudge said, placing her hand on his arm. "Iggy's right, think what it would do to Max if you died."

Fang looked over at her and with a sigh unclenched his fists, she was right. They were both right. No matter how much Fang hated it. Max said in her letter that she couldn't live without him. If he went charging out there now and got killed, what would Max do? Personally, Fang didn't want to know.

"Fine." He said with a sigh. It pained him to not be able to do anything to help Max, but he understood. Then he added: "But when we find out where Max is, I'm going to personally go beat the hell out of Dylan."

"And I'll help you," Iggy said with a smile that quickly faded to seriousness. "But we have to be careful, and you're going in head-to-toe body armor."

"Head-to-toe body armor? Sheesh man, what do you have in this house? An armory?" Fang said teasingly, but Iggy gave a serious, evil grin in return, which made Fang return a confused frown.

"You want to see it?" He asked the devilish grin still plastered to the blind boy's face.

"You mean you actually have an armory?" Nudge said a curious, but slightly scared look, on her face.

"Yup, come on." He said jumping up and heading downstairs. Fang turned to Nudge and gave her a questioning look before they both followed Iggy downstairs.

They found Iggy at the entrance to the basement. He looked pretty excited. He turned to Fang and Nudge. "Drum roll please." He said mischievously.

Nudge did a drum roll against the wall with her hands. Fang just stood there.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Rides' armory." Iggy said opening the door to the basement and Fang walked down into it. It was still dark and he had to fumble for the light switch. _Guess this is how Iggy feels all the time._ Fang thought to himself. He didn't like not being able to see for that short amount of time, he couldn't even comprehend what Iggy must have to go through on a daily basis.

Nudge and Iggy soon followed him down into the basement. There were rows of gun racks, with guns, bullets, and an assortment of other weapons on them. Some body armor stood in the corner, enough to cover Fang head-to-toe, just like Iggy had said.

"Wow." Fang whistled, taking a look around.

"All the explosives a growing boy will ever need." Iggy said with pride before heading over to the body armor, picking up a bullet-proof vest, and handing it to Fang. "This is for you."

"You weren't kidding." Fang said, taking the vest and slipping it on underneath his shirt. He could barely tell it was there by just looking, though he could definitely feel its weight.

"Nope." Iggy said popping the p as he did so.

"How did you get all this stuff?" Nudge asked, glancing around.

"E-bay, and other places."

"E-bay?"

"Yup, E-bay."

**Line-**

The rest of the day had passed without incident. It was quite boring really, and when Fang got bored, he started to think, and that wasn't the greatest thing for him to do at the moment. His speaking abilities got worse. He was barely talking to anyone now. Mostly just nodding or shaking his head. He really needed Max back.

It was nighttime now, almost midnight actually, but he just couldn't fall asleep. He couldn't stop thinking about her, worrying about her. _What was she doing right now? What was he doing to her? Was she thinking of me right now? Was she wondering if I had abandoned her? No, she'd know I'd never do that. Wouldn't she?_ The endless wondering made him want to scream out in frustration.

He flung off Max's bed sheets. They smelled like her. They tortured him.

Fang sat in the corner of her room. It was the place that tortured him the least. He buried his head in his hands. A few tears leaked out onto them. _Was he beating her? Was he-? No, don't think about that. _He took deep breaths to calm himself. More than anything he wished this nightmare would end. He wished Max was back, safe and sound in his arms, but she wasn't. She was out there, stuck with some psycho, and Fang had no idea where that was.

"I'm sorry, Max. I'm so sorry. I should have been there to walk you the rest of the way home that day. I should have been there." He cried softly, and then looked up.

Max's room was so perfect, well not perfect, in fact it was pretty messy, but it was exactly the way she had left it, minus the bed sheets on the floor. Everything is exactly where it was supposed to be, except Max.

He crawled over to his suitcase and unzipped the large outer pocket, taking out the notebook. He opened it up and got a pen out before writing down his new findings.

_Max sent me a letter in the form of a paper airplane, it was delivered to my house by a mailman. This suggests, I hope, that the house she's in is close by._

_Nudge and Iggy are going to go interrogate the mailman tomorrow. Iggy's not letting me come in case Dylan's still out there watching, because Dylan wants me dead. I don't understand why._

_My mother and I have moved into the Rides' house to hide from him. Max said it would be safe here, after seeing the armory downstairs in the basement I can see why. Iggy gave me a bullet-proof vest to wear. He said that he didn't want me to go get myself killed and break his sister's heart with my damn heroics. Max said something similar, so I guess my heroics are infamous._

Fang smirked at his little joke, writing all this down made him feel a little better. It was strange, but it helped him, distracted him from everything, by focusing on it. Crazy, right? But somehow it made the problem seem smaller than it was, breaking it down into sections, rather than looking at the whole thing.

_Iggy told me about Dylan and his history with the Rides, with Max. He was her boyfriend, her dad encouraged the relationship, but he didn't know who he was really. He was a rapist and a murder, and he beat Max nearly to death._

_Max barely survived the encounter, Iggy was blinded in a car accident on the way to the hospital, and Dylan was sent to jail after her father knocked him out. Apparently Dylan escaped. _

_Now Dylan has her, my Max, my love, and I have no idea where she is._

That pretty much summed up everything. He didn't feel amazing, no that'd be when he found Max again, but he felt okay enough to be able to sleep, and he needed to sleep. He'd be no use to Max half-dead from exhaustion.

Fang put aside the notebook and crawled back into Max's bed. He buried his face into her covers and inhaled deeply. The scent that once terrorized him now brought him a bit of comfort. He could pretend like she was right here, next to him. It was cruel, lying to himself this way, but the truth was a much crueler adversary.

**A/N**

**BFF:**** Did anybody else think that Fang's notebook sounded like a diary?**

**Me:**** Yeah.**

**Fang:**** It's not a diary! It's a journal!**

**Me:**** No quoting **_**Diary of a Wimpy Kid**_**.**

**Iggy:**** Fang's right, guys don't have diaries, they have journals.**

**Me:**** That's like calling a purse a messenger bag just because a guy is wearing it.**

**Fang, Iggy, and Tom:**** It's not a purse!**

**BFF:**** No, it's called a **_**m**_**urse.**

***Wander and BFF high-five***


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride, but I do have this cord that my dad gave me which links me up to the internet and that means NO MORE WIFI PROBLEMS! YIPPEE!**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Okay, just warning you beforehand, this chapter is pretty dark and gruesome.**

**BFF:**** Yay. *fake excitement***

**Me:**** Sorry, but I just felt like I needed to up the stakes, I won't tell much more on that, at least for now. Just remember, you have been warned.**

**BFF: *eerie ghost sounds***

**Me: Okay, on with the show.**

Max's POV

Everything was just too quiet. It unnerved Max, made her jump at the smallest of sounds, and sometimes even sounds that weren't even there. Her eyes were red and her face was tear-streaked, she was scared. Not for herself, but for Fang.

_Please, please, don't let Dylan kill Fang. _She sent up a silent prayer.

The pain from her injuries lessened with her fear, but she'd rather all the pain in the world than to have to worry whether or not Fang survived the night. She shook from the cold, her bare feet felt like they had been frozen to the floor. She huddled into a corner, away from the air conditioning vent over her bed. She concluded that her shoulder must have been broken or something because it still hurt hours after having received the wound.

The pillow, which she had placed beside her in case of Dylan's return, whatever good it would do her, had a pillow casing. She reached out for it and took off the cover and then wrapped it around her feet which were turning an awful shade of purple. Instantly her feet felt warmer and she let out a sigh of relief. The pillow case would hinder her, but frozen feet would be worse. Max hugged the coverless pillow, hoping that it would absorb some of her body heat in order to keep her warm. Her teeth chattered in the freezing temperatures.

Max wished she was with Fang, nice and warm on the beach somewhere. She wished she could hold him, kiss his lips. She wished she could hear his voice whispering in her ear. She smiled at the fantasy in her mind, it helped her go on. Fang would be okay, Dylan couldn't kill him, he just couldn't. Life couldn't exist without Fang.

Then the door slammed open, shattering her dream. Dread filled her. It was Dylan. Was he carrying something with him? Someone? Max's breath caught in her throat. He walked through the door, completely alone.

Max sagged into her corner and let out a deep breath. He didn't get him. Fang must've gotten her letter. Thank God for little miracles.

Dylan shot over to her. Max couldn't help but cringe, no matter how much she fought it. There was fire in Dylan's eyes. An angry fire. A raging fire. Then he backhanded her with enough force to cause her to go crashing into the floor. She cried out softly in pain, her cheek stung.

"You warned him, didn't you?" Dylan spat, pulling Max up by her hair and tossing her into the wall. She fell to the floor once more, she didn't answer.

"I don't know how you did it, but you did, didn't you?" Dylan whispered angrily into her ear. Max didn't answer, but coughed instead, trying to catch her breath. She was so exhausted, so cold she didn't even have the strength to fight back. Impatient Dylan screamed into her ear: "Didn't you?"

Max didn't speak, but glared up at him, forcing her teeth to stop chattering.

Dylan's nostrils flared. "Stupid bitch! You're not his. You're mine and only mine!"

Max's eyes narrowed. _How dare he?_

"I don't belong to anybody and most certainly not to you. If I belong to anybody, I belong to Fang. You will _never_ own me." She spat back at him, her own anger seeping into her voice.

Max glared at Dylan, there was a flash of psychotic anger in his eyes, and Max scooted away from him as far as she could.

"Oh, really?" He asked, tilting his head and taking a sweep of her body. "I don't see his name anywhere." He pulled out a knife from his back pocket and Max's eyes grew wide, knowing exactly what he was going to do next.

"Please, don't." She begged, trying to back away further, but the wall prevented her.

"Then say it." He gritted out. "Say that you're mine."

_Say that I'm Dylan's? No, I could never. I'd never betray Fang like that. I don't care what he does to me. I will never be Dylan's._

Max shook her head defiantly, glaring. _Oh, if looks could kill._

"So be it." He said grabbing her by her hair and dragging her out to the middle of the room. The chains rattled behind her.

Dylan flipped her over on her stomach and placed his knee down in the middle of her back, preventing her from moving. In a panic, she fought against him, wildly throwing punches. Then he grabbed her arms and folded them behind her back, placing his knee on them as well to keep them from moving. Max cried out in frustration.

"Let me go!"

Dylan leaned down. His weight was crushing her lungs, making it hard to breathe.

"No." He whispered into her ear and then tore open the back of her shirt. Max screamed out in fright. A few droplets of water fell from her face and splattered onto the floor.

Then her back was on fire. Dylan was carving into her flesh. Max screamed and bit her lip. Blood came pouring into her mouth. She'd bitten down too hard.

_Think about Fang, think about him and forget about the pain. Just like you did before, come on Max! Pain is just a message!_

It wasn't all that hard removing herself from everything. She screamed out in pain every once in a while, but locking herself up in her memories of Fang saved her from the worst of it.

Max remembered their first kiss, it had been odd at first, but then it worked up to something amazing. **(A/N No perverted thoughts allowed! Please!)** Too bad her brother had ruined it.

"_Fang and Max sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes the baby—" Iggy screamed out to the entire school._

"_IGGY!" Max yelled, jumping out of the tree that she and Fang had indeed been kissing in. Oh, the irony. _

_Fang jumped down beside her and then they both approached Iggy angrily. _

"_Iggy, what the hell man?" Fang asked, a bit of blush meeting his cheeks as people began to stare at Max's and his intertwined hands. _

"_Aw, come on, I can't pick on my sister and my best friend?" Iggy teased with a smirk on his face._

"_No, you cannot!" Max said. She wasn't the least bit embarrassed by her relationship with Fang, but some privacy would have been nice. "Anyways, it's the car that comes first, right? The baby comes last."_

"_Oh, I don't know, with you two…" Iggy said with a laugh, knowing that it'd get under his sister's skin. Max's jaw dropped and Fang blushed redder than a tomato._

"_Oh, no you didn't!" Max screamed and then chased her brother around the school yard. Fang was left laughing by the tree. When she came back exhausted, but triumphant in giving her brother a lesson, he pulled her into a hug and kissed her in front of everyone. A deep and meaningful kiss, like those one's that husbands and wives have at their weddings._

Needless to say, they both got sent to the principles office for PDA.

Then there was that time Max had to go on vacation to the beach with her family and Fang was stuck back at home. They called each other and talked for hours on end. She and Fang talked about random, crazy stuff ranging from marshmallow dinosaurs to conspiracy theories to aliens. By the end of the vacation Max was the only one without a sunburn because she'd spent the majority of the vacation indoors talking to Fang.

A sudden wave of pain ripped through her, taking her out of her memories as the knife bit down deeper into her skin and Max cried out. She could feel the blood trailing across her skin and dripping down onto the floor. Her spine instinctually arched up, but Dylan shoved her back down. The pain radiated across her back and down into every nerve.

_Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Think of Fang. Fang. Fang. Fang. Where are you? Please, somebody, anybody? Fang. Please, stop it! It hurts! Fang! _

Max screamed out, she was a step away from blacking out. She felt herself go limp on the floor and she just tried to focus on breathing. _In. Out. In. Out._

Finally, Dylan finished carving and released her. She let out a cry, and then gritted her teeth.

The door opened and another man stepped in, the man who had taken her shoes, the man who had knocked her out and prevented her escape. The deputy.

_He's probably the one Dylan got the baton from._

"Patch her up. I don't want her dying from blood loss." Dylan said to the man who responded with a nod.

Dylan glanced back in her direction and smiled. "You're my property now, Maxi." He turned back to the deputy. "Give her back her blanket, her lips and feet are already blue, I'd rather her keep her toes. We'll take it back in the morning."

Max didn't even reply she was so overcome by pain.

Dylan left the room, closing the door behind him and leaving her with the deputy and a medical kit. The man knelt beside her and started taking out supplies from the medical kit. Max closed her eyes, almost letting darkness take her, but she opened them again. She caught a glimpse of her back in the mirror and immediately began to sob.

On her back he had written:

_Property of Dylan Summers_

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey, guys…**

**Protestors:**** KILL DYLAN! KILL DYLAN!**

**Me:**** As you can hear, there are protestors outside.**

**Hippy Protestors:**** THROW DYLAN IN JAIL! THROW DYLAN IN JAIL!**

**BFF:**** Hmmmm, this could be ugly… *peers out window***

**Me:**** I'm kinda at a cross roads, I don't know whether or not I should kill Dylan in the end or not. You see, he deserves to die, but at the same time, death could be the easiest punishment on him, life can be a much worse punishment for a criminal. **

**BFF:**** So please review and give your vote or any other suggestions.**

**Fang:**** I think Dylan should die.**

**BFF:**** We all know what you think Fang, but we're letting the people decide this.**

**Me:**** Please vote!**

.


	19. Author's Note Numero 2

Hey everybody,

So sorry for the repeat of that last chapter, I actually meant it to be there, but I guess I accidently put that one in for Chapter 15, or 16 as the chapters read thanks to that earlier Author's note. Sorry! I edited it so if you go back it should be there by the time you get this Author's note. Sorry for the inconvenience guys I'd blame it on it being late when I posted, but it was probably just me mistaking a 7 for a 5. And thanks for all your votes so far! So far I have no votes for jail. YAY! Whoops, did I let that out? Thank you so much for your description _feather flyer _ I like the beheading, burning, and feeding to alligators a lot, but I kinda feel a bit sorry for the alligators. *smiles* Well keep reviewing, I've got another chapter in the works and I'll have it up soon.

Wander


	20. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

_**Disclaimer:**_** Dylan is a screwed up cheeseball, I wouldn't have put him in the series, but he's in there. That means I don't own the series.**

**A/N **

**Me:**** Hey guys! Can I ask you for a favor? Can you guys all wish happy birthday to **_**lolajam77**_**? Pretty pwweeease?**

**BFF:**** The gang all wishes you a wonderful birthday **_**lolajam77**_**!**

**Gang:**** *sing-song voices* Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!**

**Me:**** Okay! Here's your birthday present!**

***tank appears!***

**Iggy:**** Kool!**

**Fang:**** Nice.**

**Iggy:**** What's our target?**

**Me:**** *smiles* Dylan. *points to target at end of range with Dylan strapped to it* Go on have fun!**

*****_**lolajam77**_**, Fang, and Iggy jump into tank***

**Dylan:**** *in pathetic voice* No! Please spare me!**

_**Lolajam77**_**:**** No! Die, Dylan die!**

**Fang:**** Ready.**

**Iggy:**** *aims turret* Aim.**

_**Lolajam77**_**:**** FIRE!**

***giant explosion***

**Iggy:**** Bull's eye. *smiles***

***Dylan burns to a crisp***

**BFF:**** Happy endings are so nice aren't they?**

**Me:**** Totally. Happy Birthday **_**Lolajam77**_**! I hope it's amazing! **

Fang's POV

Fang woke up screaming. Another nightmare. This time worse. He couldn't even bring himself to repeat the horrible things he'd seen in his mind. He was breathing hard, out of breath. Slowly he calmed himself.

He heard feet slapping the floor and his door burst open.

"Fang? Are you okay?" A voice came shakily from the doorway. Iggy.

"I'm alright, Iggy." He said reassuringly to the blind boy. "Just a bad dream." _The worst thing he'd ever seen._ "I'm fine." _Lies._

"Okay." Iggy sighed quietly from the door. "I just—I thought—"

_That Dylan was here, and that he was killing me._

"I know." Fang breathed and closed his eyes.

"I'll go back to bed then." Iggy said, pointing his thumb back out over his shoulder to the hallway.

"Sorry for waking you." Fang whispered, but Iggy had already closed the door and was down the hallway.

Fang buried his face once more into Max's bed sheets, taking in their scent, Max's scent. It was light and fresh, like morning air as the dew was lifted from the ground by the sun. Intoxicating, but not as intoxicating as Max herself.

There was just something about her. He didn't know exactly what it was. He guessed that it was everything, but he loved her for it. Whatever it was, it didn't really matter what it was. All needed to know was that he loved Max, and everything about her. The way she would sometimes snort when she laughed and then hold her hands over her face in a mortified expression, and then laugh again. The way she could be such a smart-alec and leave a person stuttering for a comeback. The way she could enter a room and make everything else melt away. The way she kissed. The way she made him feel inside, the way she made him feel alive.

Fang let out a sigh and opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling.

_Why did Dylan take Max? Why did he want me dead so much that I couldn't even go outside to talk to a freaking mailman?_

He looked over to the clock, as soon as he read the bright red letters he groaned. _Four in the morning? _Normally he would just go back to sleep, but nothing was normal anymore, and every time he fell asleep, he had terrible nightmares about Max. He sat up and got out of Max's bed. He rubbed his eyes and stretched.

Not everything is quiet in the morning like they say it is. Actually, if you listen, it's quite loud when you focus on the noise. Something so quiet, it's normally unnoticeable, and then when it becomes the center of attention, it becomes as loud as a freight train. The wind, that continuous swishing sound that battered against the side of the house. The thunderous rustling of leaves as they slapped against one another, the creaking of branches, the bending of vines. The occasional wind chime dinging and ringing.

Max would comment on it if she were here, she loved the wind, the noises it made. Fang had never really listened. He'd always been too busy. He wished he could listen to it with her now. He felt like he'd wasted time.

_Stop it, there's still time. You and Max will be back together soon._

That was his problem. He always thought there was time. Time runs like a fast river, it doesn't slow down for anyone and it won't hesitate to smash you against the rocks.

_You got to live like there's no tomorrow, because there might not be one. Do things you won't regret because you're paying for them with a bit of your life. A bit of your life that you can't get back, a bit of your life that might be the last. You will never know what's coming next, what's around the next bend. So live, but live it right, because if you do anything only half-way to how you wanted to live it, it's only worth half of what you paid for it._

That's the advice he'd give anybody who asked for it. Don't waste your time.

_Man, now I feel like some wise old fool._

Hours went by like this, just staring out the window at the horizon and listening to the wind till the sun crested the dark earth and birds began to sing. It was like something straight out of a Disney movie, except even more beautiful than that and much slower.

_Max would love this._

He sighed. _Maybe I should take a picture for her, at least then she'll get to see a little bit of it._

He pulled out his phone, paused for a second to let the camera focus, and then took a shot of the sun rise. The picture didn't do the real thing justice, but it was still beautiful. _Not as beautiful as Max. _He closed his eyes and smiled as he remembered her face. Then the image faded and his lips downturned into a frown.

There were noises down the hallway. His mother and Iggy were getting up. Max's mom was sleeping downstairs.

Fang didn't move to join them. He wasn't in the mood to talk or socialize. He just wanted to be away. He just wanted Max.

_Stupid Dylan, why couldn't he have just rotted away in his cell? Why'd he have to escape? Why'd he have to take Max?_

Fang let out a frustrated groan. He just wanted to throw something. _Like Dylan, out the window of a hundred story building._

Wow, when did he get so violent? _Since Dylan kidnapped Max. _Oh, yeah.

Max was always the one to go all kung-fu on people, not him. He was a bit more of a pacifist than Max was, meaning he liked to watch her go beat up the school bullies and stepped in before she got herself hurt. She didn't need his help often, that girl could kick some butt. But every once in a while she'd get over her head, and he'd be there to take the punch that had been meant for her.

That's when she would usually say _'I can take care of myself'_ and then chastise him for getting hurt over her. Fang couldn't say he didn't mind getting the bruises, but the thought of her getting hurt, well that would haunt him a lot longer than any bruise. It did haunt him now that he knew what Dylan had done to her, what he could be doing to her as of this moment.

He looked up at the sun. It was a full, side-ways hand's length from the horizon now.Fang sighed and changed out of his night clothes and into a black shirt and dark jeans.

_Time to socialize. _

He walked down stairs, everybody was sitting at the table, eating. They were all still in their PJ's.

"Good morning, Fang." Mrs. Ride greeted, and then gestured to the kitchen. "Go get yourself something to eat."

He wasn't hungry, but he wasn't about to be rude by saying that. So he went to the kitchen and grabbed a plate, filling it with waffles, eggs, and bacon.

Then he came back to the table and sat down next to Iggy. Right next to the definition of 'bed head' in the dictionary there should be a picture of Iggy's head. This kid had hair sticking out in every direction, up, down, sideways. Fang wondered for a moment if Gazzy had put glue in Iggy's hair last night.

"Iggy, you've got a serious case of bed head." Fang said as he took a bite of his eggs. "Serious, dude, you're rivaling Goku."

Iggy gave a short laugh before making a comeback of his own. "No wonder Max likes you so much, she's like a guy and you're like a girl, worrying about other people's hair. It's a wonder you and Nudge don't hang out more often."

Fang didn't have a comeback of his own so he just punched Iggy in the arm.

"Ow! Dude come on, blind guy here." Iggy complained.

Fang simply grunted, basically saying: _Yeah, I know._

Iggy muttered something under his breath.

"What was that Iggy?" His mother asked in that tone that said: _I know what you said I just want you to confess it._

Of course, Iggy never confessed.

"Oh, nothing." He replied innocently. Iggy was about as innocent as Jessie James.

"Uh huh." His mother replied knowingly but didn't press the subject.

Fang ate slowly while the others attempted normal, small talk. The food tasted great, not as good as his mother's, definitely not as good as Iggy's, for a blind boy Iggy could cook like a god. But the food was still pretty good, Fang's stomach, however, turned and twisted at every bite, making him want to vomit. His nerves, he guessed. They turned his stomach to acid.

Finally they were all finished. His mother and Mrs. Ride went back to their rooms to get ready for work. Max's mom was going to take his mother to the veterinary office before going to her own office.

That meant he and Iggy had free reign of the house.

_This could get interesting._

**Me:**** Okay, I had a lot more I wanted to write, but it's really late right now, so I'll have to put it off till tomorrow, thank you everybody for you're reviews! **_**AFanOfFax**_** thank you so much!**

**BFF:**** You should have seen her. She was jumping up and down when she saw your review. It was really sweet by the way.**

**Me:**** I'm just really glad that so many people have liked my story, I was afraid everybody would hate it. And I so totally DO NOT think you are creepy **_**AFanOfFax**_**! I'm really glad you liked it so much, and I promise I'll keep wandering ;) I've got a few more chapters to go in this book, but I feel like its going to come to a close soon, then again, I'm known at school for being a bit of a lengthy writer, so my estimate might be off. Thank you everybody for your reviews! I won't deny that I get mini freak outs too, **_**AFanOfFax**_**, when I see the reviews. Seriously, I squeal like a little girl. It's hilarious and I start laughing at myself, and then my family members go like "what'd they say?" because they know that's probably what I'm having my crazy giggle fit over.**

**BFF:**** Well, ciao.**

**Me:**** Wait! Before we go!**

***Dylan gets run over by tank***

**Me:**** Please send **_**Lolajam77**_** a Happy Birthday!**


	21. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own MR.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Sorry guys for the delay, I would have updated earlier, but I have to get my summer reading done before my summer classes start, and no I'm not going to summer school. I'm actually pretty smart. I just signed up for some classes over the summer so I wouldn't have to do them later, you know, get ahead of the game.**

**BFF:**** So in other words, Wander is crazy and signed away half her summer.**

**Me:**** Yeah…That pretty much sums it up.**

Max's POV

Max moved slightly, searing pain surged through her. She let out a pained cry. Involuntary tears fell to the ground. Taking deep breaths, she soothed the searing pain. More carefully this time she moved, trying her best not to stretch her carved back. It was difficult.

The deputy had put anti-infection, or whatever-it's-called, cream on her wounds after he stopped the bleeding. Dylan wouldn't let him stitch up the wounds, he wanted them to scar. _Jerk._ He put gauze **(I don't know how to spell it)** over the wounds to prevent them from getting anything in them, but no pain medication. She had to deal with the pain on her own.

Calm, deep breathing, little movement, and locking herself away in happy memories of the past seemed to help, but she couldn't live in her mind's deluded fairytale forever. She needed to find some way back to her loved ones.

Things weren't looking too bright, however. Injured, starving, and cold, Max wasn't at the peak of physical condition and she was worried she might be starting to get a bit of hypothermia, though she wasn't sure whether or not that was possible, she'd only ever heard of people getting that when they were wet. She wasn't wet.

Her captors had been generous enough to get her up onto her bed and put a blanket on her. She was thankful for that small amount of humanity they still possessed. Max had a feeling it might be the last bit of humanity she saw from them.

She wrapped the blanket tightly around her, but left her back exposed, the chilling temperatures helped with the raging pain, to cool it down.

Max didn't want to sleep, she didn't trust Dylan or the police officer, but she didn't get much say in the matter, her body shut down and forced her to sleep.

Her sleep was peaceful at first, nice, restful, reviving. Nothing went through her head, just the pleasant feeling of her body trying to slowly stitch itself back together as she slept.

Then everything changed.

_She was in the woods, it was dark, and there were strange sounds emanating from every corner of the forest. A hand reached down to her, her gaze drifted up the person's hand to his arm, then to his chest, and then his face. It was Fang._

"_Fang!" She cried and leapt into his arms._

"_Hey, Max." He whispered in her ear, hugging her slight frame. Max smiled against his warm chest, sighing contently. _

_She clung to him, refusing to let him go._

"_I know this really cool place, it's breath-taking. It's just up the path a little ways, do you want to go see it, Max?" He asked her, his obsidian eyes glinting with a lust for adventure._

_Max nodded happily and he lead her down the path, their hands intertwined. _

_As they walked the path became darker and harder to travel. Fang had to help her get through some of the thicker brush. Finally they reached the place he had spoken of. A small cliff overlooking a river far down below, the sun was setting over the hill across the river from them. It cast off an array of different colors and they danced across the sky like the Northern Lights. In fact, they were the Northern Lights. They were beautiful. Max had always wanted to see them in person._

_Fang was right, it was breath-taking._

"_Oh, Fang," She said turning to him with a smile. "It's-" She stopped and froze with fear. Just feet from her stood Dylan with a knife to Fang's throat. _

"_Dylan, don't, please-" She begged._

"_Shut it!" He screamed at her, Fang struggled a bit but kept his eyes locked onto Max's. Hers were full of desperation and fear, she dared not speak. _

"_You love him?" Dylan spat, she nodded slowly. His face contorted with anger. "Well, then I hope you don't mind watching him die."_

_He threw Fang over the cliff._

"Noooooooo!" She awoke and screamed, bolting upright. Pain etched its way through her and she screamed again. She felt something wet trailing beneath her bandages. One of her cuts had reopened. She clenched her teeth in an effort to redirect the pain. Her brain could only register so much.

Max took calm, deep breaths and pain subsided slightly.

The door opened.

_Please, just don't let it be him. Don't let it be Dylan._

Of, course it was.

"How'd you sleep, Maxi?" He asked. She knew he must've heard her scream. He didn't care. It was just another way to get under her skin.

"Piss off." She hissed, wrapping the blanket around her tightly. She noticed there was a bit of blood on it from her open wound. Who cared? It was warm.

Then, of course, the jerk tore it from her grasp.

She muttered a few curses under her breath.

"Tell me where he is, and I'll give it back." He proposed, holding the blanket just out of reach.

She laughed. It hurt a little, but anything to burn his sick, sadistic butt.

"You think I'm a dog you can train?" She mocked. His eyes narrowed. "Oh, sit Fido and I'll give you a treat. Go to hell."

He pulled up a chair and sat down. Tossing the blanket to the far end of the room, where Max couldn't reach it.

"Okay, how about this?" He looked up and stared straight into her eyes. Dead serious. "Tell me where he is, and I won't hurt you."

Max sat up straighter. Dylan couldn't control her anymore. He couldn't scare her into submission.

"And like I said earlier," She replied and then enunciated to make sure he understood her. "Go. To. Hell."

He stood up suddenly and his chair flew across the room. There was fire in his eyes. He took a deep breath, as if he was collecting his anger and storing it away somewhere.

"I don't need your help to get what I want. I'll bring him to me." He said. "I'll send him a message through your dear family, he'll come running."

Max struggled to keep a straight face, she couldn't give away so much as a hint. Otherwise Fang was dead.

"Fang's not that stupid." She replied calmly. _Yes he was._ She loved the boy, but he could be horribly irrational when people he loved were in danger. "And you stay away from my family. They have nothing to do with this."

"Oh, but they have everything to do with this. After all, it was your family that got me locked up, remember?" He said, peering closely at her. "But it looks like thing's have come full circle. Your dad in jail? Oh." Dylan said it with pity, but really he was just mocking her. _Dad's in jail? When did this happen? What for?_ Dylan saw her look and interpreted.

"Assaulting a police officer. Nasty business. Of course the idiots screwed it up by not reciting the full Miranda Rights to him, so they keep him there, unless, you get someone on the inside to loose his release papers." _The deputy. _**(I don't know if this is exactly accurate, I heard about the Miranda Rights and release papers things in movies and, well, you know how accurate Hollywood is.)**

Anger rose up within Max and she lashed out at him, slapping him across the face and tearing another one of her wounds open in the process, but she didn't care. The jerk had kept her father in jail, kept him from being with his family when they had needed each other the most.

"You bastard!" She roared and went to punch him. He caught her fist, and then the other as she went to hit him again. Dylan threw her to the ground.

"Then I heard about your brother," He continued, circling her. "Blind as a bat, what a shame."

Max hissed at him and made to attack him again, her anger made her forget her wounds. He caught her attack and used her momentum against her. She crashed into a wall.

"What? Are you scared I'm going to hurt your little baby brother?" He teased.

She pulled herself up into a sitting position. "My little baby brother can kick your butt and you know it."

Dylan simply laughed at that. Then he made his way over to her once more, getting uncomfortably close.

"Well, Maxi, sweetheart," He said in a fake, concerned tone. "I was going to write a letter, but how about we send a video? Give lover boy a bit of incentive by showing him your face, huh?"

Max spat into his face. He stayed there for a moment, stunned. Then he wiped away the spit and grabbed her, forcing her to stand.

The deputy entered the room with a video camera.

"Get it rolling, will you?" Dylan commanded. The man nodded and flipped it on, signaling that it was on with a thumb's up.

Max struggled in Dylan's grip, trying to get out of the camera's view.

"Hello, Fang." Dylan said to the camera with a hiss.

"Fang! Whatever you do don't listen to him!" She quickly screamed at the camera before Dylan hit her and she went spiraling to the floor.

Dylan sighed with annoyance before continuing on.

"As you can see, I have something that you want, and you have something that I want." He said with a flash of anger. "Meet me in the park by the basketball courts at 9 o'clock tomorrow night." Dylan turned to Max, still recovering on the cold floor. "Or she dies."

"No! Fang, don't do what he says!" She screamed, but the camera had already stopped recording.

Dylan turned to the deputy. "Put the video on a CD and place it in the Rides' mailbox, they'll make sure it gets to him, put his name on the front, say it's from Dylan." He instructed, the deputy nodded once more and left the room.

Dylan turned back to Max. She looked at him coldly, defiantly.

"You're not going to kill me." She said confidently.

He knelt down beside her and she recoiled in disgust.

"Why wouldn't I?" He asked her.

"You want me too badly."

"True." He admitted. "But your little lover boy doesn't know that."

**A/N**

**Me:**** The plot thickens!**

**BFF:**** I really don't like Dylan.**

**Me:**** Neither do I.**

**Fang:**** Nor does anybody who's reviewed so far. *calls loudly* See? Everybody agrees with me, they know I'm right.**

**Me:**** Okay, fine Fang, we get it! But it was a people's choice thing, not a Fang's choice.**

**BFF:**** He's really cocky.**

**Max:**** Tell me about it.**

**Fang:**** Hey!**

**Max:**** Well it's true!**

**Me:**** Anyways, thank you everybody who's reviewed and given your votes! Please keep sending them! They really do help to boost moral ;) I'll try to post as often as I can, but it might be a bit slower than it's been since I have to work on school work now. **

**BFF:**** See you guy's next post!**


	22. Chapter 20

Chapter 20! OMZ!

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while, I just had a mental fart after I was done reading my first summer reading book. I seriously was lazier than a potato on a couch. But I'm back! I'll try to write some more I promise!**

**BFF:**** You better! *scary voice***

**Me:**** *squeaky voice* I will. **

Fang's POV

The first half of the day actually wasn't that eventful, that is if you call Iggy blowing something up in the backyard every half-hour uneventful.

"Hey man," Iggy said, coming back from his latest explosives run to the basement. "What should I blow up next?"

Fang leaned back into the couch.

"How about nothing?" He said tiredly and slightly apprehensive. "It's almost noon. Don't you think you should call Nudge?"

Iggy facepalmed with a groan. "I'm sorry dude, I forgot. Blowing stuff up, it just gets my mind off things, you get what I mean?"

"Yeah." Fang said with a depressed sigh. _No, I don't really get what you mean._

"I'll call her." Iggy called out and then left the room.

Fang lay there on the couch, feeling utterly useless. He sighed and closed his eyes. He wanted to help out so badly, but what could he do from inside this house, this prison? He wanted more than anything to know where Max was, for her to be safe. But she wasn't safe and he could do absolutely nothing about it. He ran his hands over his face and through his hair, trying to get rid of the urge to scream out loud.

Iggy came back into the room and sat down on the couch beside him.

"I called her. She'll be here in five or ten minutes." He said leaning into the cushions.

Fang nodded and then remembered Iggy couldn't see him, but what was the point in answering really? So he stayed silent.

"I know this is a stupid question, but are you okay man?" Iggy said, concerned.

Fang took a breath. "No."

Iggy patted him on the back, a reassuring gesture that had little effect on Fang, though it was appreciated. "We'll find her."

Fang nodded. "Yeah." He whispered. They had to find Max. They would find Max. He'd go crazy if they didn't, but they would find her, so he didn't have to worry about that…right?

But why was she gone, why did Dylan take her, and why did he want Fang dead?

"Iggy?" Fang asked.

Iggy turned to him. "Yeah?"

"Why did Dylan take her, and why does he want me dead?"

Iggy let out a sigh and thought for a moment, as if he wasn't sure how to proceed.

Finally he spoke. "I don't know what exactly goes through that psycho's messed up brain, but I'd guess that he sees Max as a challenge that he never quite—accomplished. From what I do know about him is that he's very possessive, and he probably sees Max as his. But Max loves you, not him and that's why he hates you so much and wants you dead."

Fang's hand involuntarily gripped Max's letter. _A game, was that all Dylan saw this as? Was that what he thought it was when he raped and murdered those other girls?_

"What's he doing to her?" Fang whispered to himself, but Iggy heard and replied.

"If he knows what's good for him he won't lay a finger on her."

"And if he doesn't know what's good for him?" Fang turned to look Iggy in the eye, carefully watching his expressions, his emotions.

Iggy looked down at the ground, his forehead creased in obvious and painful thought. He took a deep breath before answering. It wasn't dramatic, it was just barely noticeable. Fang wouldn't have caught it if he hadn't been listening.

"He'll try to break her." He finally answered.

Fang took in a sharp breath. _Break her?_ The terminology Iggy used made it sound like breaking a horse, but they used spurs to break horses—_Oh, please don't let him be hurting her like that._ Hundreds of images flowed through his mind. Max raped. Max beaten. Max tortured. Max whipped. Max on the brink of death.

"God." Fang moaned, holding himself, trying not to fall apart. He needed to stay strong. _Max needs me to be strong._

"He couldn't break her if he tried." Iggy said trying to calm him. "Max is too stubborn for that."

Fang nodded. Max would never break. She was much sturdier than Fang was. He'd definitely break before she would, especially if his captor used Max against him. Maybe…maybe that was Dylan's plan, but in reverse. Dylan killing Fang would be the straw that broke the camel's back, Max's will.

Dylan was possessive and had a strong enough urge to overcome any challenge as to track Max down and try to break her. From his track record, Fang doubted he'd be opposed to using any means possible. Fang was just another pawn in Dylan's mind to beat Max. Almost like chess. He sacrifices an important piece in order to take out the piece that protected the other King, leaving Dylan's opponent, Max, defenseless.

This battle for Max was not a battle between the kidnapper and the police, the family and the creeper who wouldn't leave their daughter, sister, alone, the boyfriend and the ex, no. It was between Dylan and Max herself. Each and every other person involved was just a piece.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Iggy said, running to the door before Fang could respond.

Iggy opened the door and there stood Nudge.

"I saw the mailman guy, he's just a few doors down. Hurry, we've got to be ready to catch him when he comes our way." She said walking inside. Iggy closed the door behind her. "Oh, hi Fang! Are you okay? Don't worry we'll find Max soon. This mailman guy will help us, I'm sure of it. How do you think we should approach him? Should we act all mysterious, like in those movies, no, that would probably freak him out. We should tell him what's going on. Then he'll be more willing to help us. Maybe we should bring the letter to him, he'd probably recognize it, I mean how many paper airplane letters are there, there can't be many. But what if like a bunch of people sent out paper airplane letters that day? He might not remember, but that's ridiculous. I mean how many people would—"

Iggy clamped his hand over her mouth. She stopped and then her eyes went big, realizing she'd become the feared Motormouth once again. Iggy lowered his hand after a moment or two.

"Sorry guys." She apologized, a little grimace etching across her mouth.

Fang nodded and shrugged, saying nonverbally: _It's okay._

"It's fine, Nudge. We probably should take the letter with us, Fang?" He held out his hand and Fang gingerly placed the letter in his hand.

"We'll be back in a bit." Nudge called and the two of them walked through the door to speak with the mailman.

**A/N **

**Me:**** Okay, sorry if this chapter was a tad bit boring.**

**Iggy:**** *yawn***

**Me:**** *sticks tongue out***

**BFF:**** Awww, you two are like an old married couple. **

**Me:**** *mortified expression***

**Iggy:**** *falls off the couch* W-w-what? *sputtering***

**Me:**** We are not married, not old, and certainly not a couple.**

**BFF:**** Yet.**

**Me:**** *glares* Anyways, please review and tell me what you thought, this was my first real attempt at Nudge the "Motormouth". I don't really talk that much in person. I'm more in tune with the Fang standard of talking, just when I need to, so it was a little weird for me writing it.**


	23. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own MR.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey, guys! Since I was a lazy couch potato yesterday, I decided to treat you with more than one chapter today, who knows I might even get a third up today ;)**

**BFF:**** That would be awesome!**

**Tom:**** Yeah!**

***BFF and Tom kiss for no apparent reason***

**Me:**** Okay… Well I hope you like this chapter!**

Fang's POV (After Iggy and Nudge's talk with the Mailman)

Nudge and Iggy walked back inside.

Fang leapt off the couch, hoping for some good news.

"So?" He questioned as Nudge handed him back the letter from Max, he stuffed it away safely in his pocket.

"He said he found it a few doors down from your house, but that it was really windy that day, so it could have blown in from just about anywhere within a half a mile radius of where he found it." Iggy said and then handed Fang something that he hadn't realized that Iggy had been holding. "And he gave us this, he said a man gave it to him and told him to deliver it here." His voice sounded apprehensive as Fang turned the package over in his hand.

On the side of the package wrote:

_To Fang_

_From Dylan_

Fang looked up at Iggy and Nudge, they looked as nervous as Fang felt. What was inside the package? Was it a warning? Was it something to try and lure Fang out of hiding? Or was it something meant to kill him, like a bomb?

"We should open this outside, just in case." He gulped. Iggy and Nudge nodded and then followed him out to the backyard that was still scorched slightly from Iggy's bomb party earlier.

They stopped, ready to bolt for the door if they needed to. Fang carefully and slowly opened the box, to reveal a…CD?

"It's just a CD." Fang breathed and then caught his breath, why would Dylan send him a CD?

Fang walked inside with the box still open to the CD inside it. He set it down on the counter and took out the disc. Then he went over to the television and put the disc into the DVD player.

He stood there watching the screen, Iggy and Nudge were watching from the other side of the couch. The screen was fuzzy for a few moments and then cleared to reveal a man and a struggling Max in his grip. Fang's eyes widened.

"Max!" He said, surprised.

"Hello, Fang." The man said with contempt in his voice. Iggy stiffened behind him. _This must be Dylan._ Fang thought glancing at him for a moment. Blonde hair, blue eyes, large build. **(I'm not sure what Dylan looked like in the series, but this is what I guessed he looked like)** No wonder Max's father had assigned him as her boyfriend. He certainly could have protected her if he wasn't such a crazed psychopath.

Max struggled against Dylan, trying to break his hold on her. She had blood on her shirt and her clothes were torn, wait, no way, those were not her clothes. She'd never wear something that skimpy. Dylan must have put them on her. Fang felt a flash of anger course through him.

Dylan had hurt Max, he had touched her. _He didn't rape her, did he?_ Fang's hands balled into fists. _He better not have put Max through that._

Max was crying and she looked desperate. Dylan was going to pay for making her look like that.

"Fang! Whatever you do don't listen to him!" She yelled to him and then Dylan hit her and she fell to the floor.

"Mother—" Fang cursed, gritting his teeth angrily. His knuckles were white.

Dylan let out a sigh, he looked bored.

"As you can see, I have something that you want, and you have something that I want." Fang could detect the anger in Dylan's voice as he spoke. _What he wants is to win. He thinks this is a game._ Iggy had been right about Dylan, he did see Max as a game, something to beat, something to break.

"Meet me in the park by the basketball courts at 9 o'clock tomorrow night." Dylan continued and then gave a quick glance to Max. "Or she dies."

Fang felt his blood run cold. The video died into static. _He's going to kill Max if I don't meet him._

Fang glanced at the clock. It was 1 o'clock now. He had just over a day to figure something out. When he got to that basketball court, Dylan would surely kill him. _Then he'd take me back to Max to show her my body, to break her._ But maybe it would be worth it, he could wear a tracking device or something, and then Iggy and the others could find Max. With all that armor and stuff they have, it shouldn't be hard to take Dylan down.

Fang let the wheels in his head turn and quickly he came up with a plan. Not a fool-proof one, not an incredibly smart one. No, it was a stupid, idiotic plan. And if he survived, Max would surely slap the hell out of him for attempting it, but he couldn't let her die.

"Come on, guys, I've got a plan, and I'm gonna need your help." Fang said, gathering Nudge and Iggy to him.

"What are you planning to do?" Iggy said skeptically, knowing this would probably have to deal with some idiotic stunts on Fang's part.

"I'm going to have Dylan take me to Max." Fang answered.

"What? Are you crazy? You have to know I'd never let you go through with this." Iggy protested.

"And let your sister die?" Fang asked, anger filling his voice, though it wasn't really directed at Iggy.

Iggy was silent. Nudge spoke up.

"I know we won't be able to convince you not to, so tell us what you need us to do, maybe then we can figure out how to keep you from coming back in a body bag." Her voice was far from friendly to Fang's plan, but at least she was accepting it.

"Okay," Fang said, looking around. "Do you have a tracking device?"

"No," Iggy said. Fang expected him to start protesting again, but instead he surprised him. "But Gazzy does, I can ask him to borrow it."

Fang smiled, thankful for his friend's reluctant support. "Thanks, Ig."

"Just don't get yourself killed, okay."

"I won't." _I hope._

Fang turned back to Nudge.

"Nudge, you remember that Halloween make up/special effects kit you got last year?"

"Yeah, it was so great! I got to give Max a make over, of course I had to get Iggy to hold her down and strapped her down with duct tape just to do it, but it was—" Iggy clamped his hand over her mouth again.

"Sorry, back on subject." She apologized.

"I'm going to need you to go get that and bring it over tomorrow, make sure everything's in it." Fang said.

"Sir, yes sir." She saluted, trying to ease the atmosphere.

Fang gave a small smirk to appease her. He didn't feel like laughing, he'd do that when Max was safe. _If I live through this that is._ Fang told himself to shut up in his head. Max would have laughed at the irony of that.

"Iggy, I'm gonna need to borrow a gun, and I'm going to need you to teach me how to shoot it." Fang said, turning to him as he said it.

Iggy nodded. "Kay." He replied.

Nudge went home after that, promising to bring the supplies Fang had asked for when she came back the next day.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Iggy asked. Fang had gone over the whole plan with them before Nudge had left.

"Yeah." Fang said. _Not really sure if I do._

"You're taking a whole lot of risk here."

"If I get her out of there, it's worth it."

"Max will hate me for letting you go through with this, just promise me you won't get yourself killed. Otherwise, I'll be in the grave next to you." Iggy said with a pained sigh, he hated this plan.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine, and Max would never kill you, she loves you too much. You are her baby brother after all." Fang countered.

Iggy smiled at that half-heartedly.

"I'm going to bring your sister back, and I'm gonna make Dylan pay for what he did to her." Fang said with determination in his voice.

"Just make sure you're with her when she comes back."

**A/N**

**Me:**** Suspense! Sorry, **_**AFanOfFax**_**, I hope you don't get sick that would suck. And to answer your question, I have absolutely no idea where I got my writing skills, but I've been writing since before I could remember. The first story I remember writing was when I was probably about five, I think, and it was about some person catching butterflies in a net. I went back to read it a couple years later to read it and I couldn't even understand what I wrote. Writing takes a lot of practice, but school helps a lot and I write my own works too for fun. I have a book I've written, but it's not published yet, I have to finish editing it. I'm really excited about it. ;)**

**BFF:**** I've read it! It's great!**

**Me:**** Well technically Gabby read it.**

**BFF:**** Whatever. It's great. **(This is not me bragging, this is actually what Gabby said)

**Me:**** If you're interested, then I'll try to post it on my profile when I'm done with it and it's published. It may be a while though. I've heard it can take a while to get a work published. **

**BFF:**** Please keep reviewing! And please keep voting, it's not over until Wander puts up that chapter, and she's still a few away from it.**


	24. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

_**Disclaimer:**_** La la la don't own Maximum Ride la la la**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey, guys, sorry for not updating earlier, I've been super busy since last time I updated.**

**Iggy:**** There are just not enough hours in the day are there?**

**Me:**** Nope, but why are you saying that Iggy?**

**Iggy:**** Can never blow up enough bombs in a day.**

**Me:**** *smiles* Wanna go shoot off some?**

**Iggy:**** Absolutely.**

***KA-BOOOOOOOOOM***

**Me:**** I've always wanted to write Ka-boom into a story.**

Fang's POV

Fang had a hard time sleeping that night. The next day he would be meeting up with Dylan, who would probably kill him. But that wasn't what was keeping him up. What was keeping him up was the desperation in Max's eyes, her bruises and cuts. They haunted him and cut to his very core. Dylan had hurt Max.

_Now he's using her to get to me, and me to her._

Fang understood that he was playing right into Dylan's trap, but what else could he do? Let Max die? Never.

_But maybe, just maybe, if I pull this off right, Max and I will both survive this._

It was a fool's hope, but he had to hold onto something.

_Whether I live or die, Max will get out._ He thought and then patted the tracking device on the side desk that Iggy had picked up from Gazzy earlier. Iggy had the other half, so he'd be able to track Fang wherever he went tomorrow. He would put it in his shoe. That would be the least likely place for Dylan to aim for.

_Maybe Dylan won't have a gun._ Fang thought hopefully, but why would Dylan try to fight fair when he beat and raped girls half his size? _Yeah, he'll have a gun._

Fang sighed and rolled over onto his back. The sheets still smelled like Max. It brought a smile to his face, knowing she'd be back in these sheets soon. Safe and warm. But at the same time, it made his heart heavy, because he didn't know whether or not he'd be there for her. He hoped he would be. He hoped he wouldn't die. What sane human doesn't hope that he continues on living?

He wanted to hold her again, feel her skin beneath his hands, kiss her lips, hear her laugh, see her care-free smile. Oh, he wanted so much, but he was promised so little.

_Maybe I should write a letter to her, in case I don't come back._ He thought to himself before taking out his spiral and a pen to write with.

_Dear Max, _

_If you're reading this, it means I didn't make it back. I'm so sorry, but I couldn't let you die. I just want you to know that I love you with all my heart and soul and that I'm sorry. This is all my fault, I should have been there to walk you home, I know you would have hated it, but at least I could have been there to try and stop Dylan. I'm sorry that I'm not there now, I wish I could be, I wish I could hold you, kiss you, and hear your laugh. Just thinking about not being able to do these things hurts, but not as bad as the thought of losing you. I won't regret dying for you if it means that you will live, and I'll always be watching over you, like a guardian angel, I'll do my best to make sure you are safe._

_Don't be afraid to love again, all I want for you is to be happy. Whoever you fall in love with will be one lucky guy. And even if you choose not to love again, don't fret because I'll be here and we'll be reunited one day. I don't mind waiting a long time, in fact I'd love it because I want you to have a long life, a good life and I want you to tell me all about your adventures when we meet up again._

_Love,_

_Fang_

He tore the page out of the spiral and folded it into quarters, placing a ring on top of it. The whole reason he hadn't been there to walk her home that day. He was buying her a wedding ring for when they graduated. It was early to buy it, but he had enough money and he was certain of asking her to marry him.

_If we both get out of this alive, I won't wait till graduation, I'll just ask. I don't care how old we are. _

Fang closed his eyes and gradually fell asleep over the next hour.

**Line-**

Max's POV

_It is about five or six hours until Fang is supposed to meet Dylan in the park._ Max estimates by the light shinning into her prison.

She's praying that Fang won't go to the park, but that's stupid. Fang is going to try to go to that park. If only she could warn him again, tell him that Dylan won't hold up his end of the bargain by letting her go. That it's just a trap to try and kill Fang. Dylan would never let her go, she's a prize to him, something that he wants, and Dylan isn't one to let go of things he wants.

Max takes a deep breath, the action stretches her injuries slightly, but they don't reopen. The cuts have scabbed over now. Around the edges of the scabs is red and throbs a bit. _They must be infected._ Max mused. _Guess the deputy's efforts to clean my wounds didn't work out too well. _

Max stretches out a bit on her bed, there are still no sheets, but it's not as cold in the room now._ Dylan must've figured I would get too sick if he left the room in freezing temperatures for too long. _Max is glad for the small amount of comfort, but she's sure it'll be taken away in some other form later.

_Maybe he's warming up the room so he can be more comfortable in it later._ She shivered at the thought, even though the air was no longer cold, but only mildly uncomfortable.

She moved to sit up, but instead fell back down in pain, crying out. Tears formed in her eyes.

_Oh, won't somebody come and rescue me?_

Then she shook her head, she wasn't the one who needed rescuing. Fang was. From Dylan and Fang's own damn heroics.

"Please, somebody, anybody, save Fang." She begged in a pained whisper to the empty air.

**A/N**

**Me:**** Anybody catch the song lyrics? Anyways thanks everybody for reviewing! **_**GUEST NO REALLY**_** I'm really glad you like my story, and I hope your parents don't kill you for reading, that would really suck. **_**AFanOfFax**_** the honor is all mine, you're welcome and thank you so much for reviewing *smiles!* I hope you didn't scare your mom too much, say hi from Wander to her and good work on raising such a wonderful person! **

**BFF:**** I would like to take this moment to recognize all the hopeless romantics, adrenaline junkies, puppy lovers, and Smashfries.**

**Me:**** That was random. Wait. Did you say Smashfries?**

**BFF:**** Yes, let's go get some!**

(In other words I'm taking a food break, sadly not for Smashfries, but I'll be right back)


	25. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

_**Disclaimer:**_** Iggy is awesome, so is Fang, and Max too! Sadly I don't own any of them. *sobs* lol, no really I don't own them.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! Gabs brought this to my attention a week or so ago, but I kept forgetting about it. She asked me how old everybody was in the story, so here it is:**

**Max is 17**

**Fang is 17**

**Iggy is 16**

**Nudge is 15**

**Dylan is 20 (When he was dating Max her dad didn't know how old he was)**

**Gazzy is 8**

**Angel is 6**

**I hope this helps out!**

**BFF:**** I was wondering when you'd be doing that, gosh you're such a procrastinator! *sticks tongue out***

**Me:**** Yeah, some times… *blows raspberry* **

**BFF:**** Wait, what's a raspberry?**

**Me:**** *eyebrow* You don't know what a raspberry is?**

**BFF:**** No! Just tell me!**

**Me:**** It's when you stick your tongue out at somebody and blow. It sounds like a fart.**

**BFF:**** Ewwww! It sounds like a fart? Gross!**

**Me:**** You asked.**

Fang's POV

Fang glances at the clock on the dashboard as he gets into Mrs. Ride's car. It is twenty minutes till 9, when he's supposed to be meeting Dylan at the park. Nudge is driving and Iggy is in the backseat. Fang's mom is at work and Mrs. Ride doesn't know that they are borrowing her car. She's currently taking a much deserved nap that may or may not have been induced by some sleeping pills that were sneaked into her evening cup of coffee.

_We are so going to be in trouble when she wakes up._

Fang closed his door and buckled his seat belt. Nudge backed out of the driveway and onto the road. Fang couldn't stop fidgeting, he was anxious.

"Hey, stop it." Iggy said, glancing over for a second, he could hear Fang's twitching. "You're making me nervous. Everything's going to go according to plan, don't worry, you'll be fine."

Iggy's jaw betrayed his words. It tightened as he said them. He was just as anxious and nervous as Fang, if not worse. But Fang nodded to reassure his friend. Fang would be fine. Max would be fine. They'd both be fine and they'd be together again soon.

_I hope._ Fang thought to himself. _Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope._

Houses, businesses, signs, and people flashed past the car as it sped down the road. The colors seemed to blend together. Red, orange, pink, green, purple, black, blue, yellow, and white. It was like the world was a canvas with too much water on it. The colors ran together and made new colors.

The colors separated as the car came to a stop. They were there, at the park.** (Dun! Dun! Duuuuuun!)**

Fang went to get out of the car but Iggy grabbed his arm. Fang turned to him.

"Be careful out there." Iggy said, worry creeping into his lighthearted voice.

"Make sure you come back." Nudge said hugging Fang from the driver's seat.

Fang hugged her back and then gave a hug to Iggy as well. "I will." He replied then opened the door and got out. "I need you guys to head out, when I start moving out of the park, follow, but from a safe distance."

Iggy and Nudge nodded in response.

The car drove off and now Fang was alone. He glanced down at his watch. Five minutes till 9. Fang started walking in the direction of the basketball courts. His hands shook slightly, and then steadied as he thought of Max.

He buried his hands half-way into his pockets and felt the fingers of his right hand touch cool metal. If all didn't go right, hopefully Max would find it when Dylan took his body back to her, to break her. He gulped. _Please, Max, don't break, and if you do, not so much as to not defend yourself._

Iggy and Nudge would find Max if Fang couldn't save her, but in the precious minutes in between, there was no telling what Dylan might do to her. He shivered as ghastly images filled his brain. He shook his head to clear them away.

Fang reached the basketball hoop. The darkness was chilling to say the least. He could barely see through it. His mind continuously pulled tricks on him, making him see things that weren't there.

"You showed up, I see." A voice came from behind. Fang whirled around to find a gun pointed at his head. He went cross-eyed, trying to keep the weapon in his sight.

Fang gulped and looked beyond the barrel of the gun to the eyes of a murder.

"Hello, Fang." The man hissed. His eyes looked like those of a snake.

Fang took a deep breath, regaining his courage. He stared coldly into the man's eyes.

"Hello, Dylan."

Dylan gave a smug smile, knowing he had all the cards. He walked around Fang, inspecting him.

"You know, I don't really see what Maxi sees in you." He said with disdain.

"There's a lot more to a person than the outside cover, you should know that," Fang replied. "After all, under that normal looking cover of yours there's a killer who rapes and beats little girls for fun."

Dylan pressed the barrel of the gun into his head harshly, forcing Fang to tilt his head aside. Maybe antagonizing the serial killer guy wasn't the greatest idea he'd ever had.

Dylan leaned into his ear and whispered. "Like your little girlfriend for example?" Fang stiffened. _No. Oh, Max. God, no._ Fang's heart filled with dread. Dylan raped Max? "Let me tell you, she was _pristine_. Of course she was screaming the whole time for you to come rescue her so it kinda ruined the mood." **(Keep in mind what I said earlier, no body will ever be raped in my story, this is just Dylan trying to torture Fang)**

"You bastard!" Fang screamed at him, so desperately wanting to knock in the guy's teeth. _If it weren't for that damn gun._

Fang trembled with anger. _He touched Max. He hurt Max. He _raped_ Max. I am going to kill this son of a bitch._

Too bad it was Dylan with the gun to Fang's head instead of the other way around.

"She would be screaming my name if it weren't for you," Dylan said, ignoring Fang's comment. "But you had to go brain wash her into loving you instead of me."

What. The. Freaking. Hell?

"You beat her you sick-o! What makes you think she'd love you after that, especially when she never loved you in the first place?" Fang replied angrily.

"Max was mine and you took her away from me." Dylan continued, gritting out each word.

He took the gun from Fang's head and pressed it into his chest forcefully. Fang could feel the cool touch of the metal. He looked into Dylan's eyes and felt a jolt of fear spike through him. Dylan was ready to kill him now. Fang gulped.

"Don't worry kid. Max will be joining you after I'm done with her." Dylan said, and Fang's eyes went wide. "I would have let her live, but she refuses to stop loving you. You ruined her, now she's not even worth the air she's breathing."

"Please, don't, just let her go." Fang begged him.

Dylan smirked and shook his head. Then he fired, shooting Fang in the chest.

Fang fell to the ground, clutching his chest, coughed a few times, and then closed his eyes.

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey, don't try to kill me yet, remember what they say about people who make **_**ass**_**umptions.**

**BFF:**** You are horrible! How could you?!**

**Me:**** BFF, look at the previous statement.**

**BFF:**** Ohhh…**

**Me:**** Anyways, I'm not that horrible, that's why I'm sending this chap with the next one, and remember this I was a Disney girl growing up, and my favorite movie was Beauty and the Beast, remember the ending *wink wink***

**BFF:**** Oh, yes! I remember! The Beast came b— *Wander clamps hand over mouth* Oibergionwjnivewovnogewnvib.**

**Me:**** Okay, we can't give everything away, just remember the next chap will make up for this, it might not seem like it at first, but you'll see.**


	26. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own MR. Hmmm, ever notice that Maximum Ride's initials are the same as the abbreviation for mister? Sooo weird.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hello!**

**BFF:**** Hi, guys!**

**Me:**** I hope you like this chap! Just remember, no making assumptions here! I promise you won't want me dead by the end of it…hopefully. Please don't try to kill me. **

**BFF:**** Yes! Please! If you kill her, you kill me, you know, because I'm in her head.**

**Me:**** Yeah and **_**AFanOfFax**_** I think you will like this chap, well after the first part at least, and I love your reviews! I get really excited when I see them, you are an amazing writer. I'm not at all annoyed by the length of your reviews, my friend Gabby is a lot like Nudge too. I love to listen to what people have to say. It's so cool that you are in a theater group. I always thought that theater was awesome, but I'm too shy to get into it, you must be very brave or just love it so much that you don't get stage fright. I'm so happy that you think my story is good enough to recommend to your friends. ;) Btw hi **_**AFanOfFax**_**'s friends! **

Max's POV

Max is scared. She's scared that Dylan might have succeeded in killing Fang. Dylan left about an hour ago. _He would have come back sooner if Fang wasn't at the park._

She was sitting up now, it had taken her a while, but eventually she gathered enough strength to sit up straight. The deputy had given her some food while Dylan had been away. It gave her some of her strength back. She had needed that meal. She was thankful for it, though she had been sure it was laced with sedatives while she ate it, but it had been a long time since then, so she guessed it didn't have any.

She fidgeted a bit. Nervous. Scared. Then she heard some noises towards the back of the house. Grunts and men talking and then her door opened. Dylan came in, carrying something over his arm. Someone. Someone, dark, handsome, and covered in blood.

"No!" She screamed as Dylan dumped Fang's bloody form in front of her. "Please, please, no!"

She gathered him up in her arms and cried. _No, no, no. It wasn't supposed to end this way._ Max buried her head into Fang's shoulder. He didn't move. _Please, move, do something! You can't be dead!_ She shook him. His body was limp.

"Wake up! Wake up!" She slapped the side of his face lightly, trying to get him to wake._ He can't be dead, he's just asleep. He's just asleep, he can't be dead._

"No use, sweetheart, you're boyfriend's dead." Dylan said caustically. Max looked up and glared at Dylan, Fang's murder.

"The devil won't even accept you into Hell when you die." She spat, tears streaming down her face.

Dylan smirked, opened the door, and then left the room, calling over his shoulder:

"Be sure you're ready for me when I get back. I want a good time tonight."

Max cried harder, the door shut.

Max carefully stroked a piece of dark hair out of Fang's face, her tears wet his face. His skin, splattered with speckles of blood, was still warm under her touch, even though she knew it shouldn't be.

She sobbed, silently begging for this all to be just one, big, horrible nightmare. But she knew, deep down, that it wasn't a nightmare, it was real. Fang was dead. His eyes were closed. _I'll never see those obsidian eyes again. _His lips were sealed into a flat line. _I'll never feel those lips kiss me again._

Fang looked peacefully radiant, like some dark guardian angel. She pressed her lips against his softly, wishing he would respond.

She broke away. "I'm so sorry, Fang. This is all my fault." She sobbed into his warm chest, staining the side of her face with blood wishing she had died along with him. _If I hadn't been so stupid. If I hadn't been so unaware. If I hadn't been so reckless. Fang would be alive._ Her ear was pressed over his heart. There would be no sound, no strong and steady heartbeat.

_Th-thump…Th-thump…Th-thump…_

Max's breath hitched and her eyes widened in surprise and happiness. The body in her arms began to move slightly, letting out a soft moan.** (Told you I'm not that evil)**

"Max?" A voice she had thought she'd never hear again called out.

"Fang!" She cried out, wrapping her arms around him tightly, shedding happy tears. His arms snaked around her waist. Max smiled. Fang was here, now. Right here, with her. "How?"

Fang withdrew one of his arms and unbuttoned a few of his black shirt's buttons to reveal a thick, bulletproof vest and a crushed bullet directly over his heart.

"What about the blood?"

"It's fake," Fang groaned. "I got it from Nudge, I had to fool Dylan somehow," He sat up and let out a moan. "That bullet's going to leave a bruise though."

Max touched the smashed bullet lightly with her fingertips.

"I'm going to kill him for what he tried to do to you." Max whispered and held him closer, closing her eyes.

"What he tried to do to me? What about you?" Fang said in disbelief. "Max, he said he r-raped you." Emotion flooded over him and he fell into sobs, stroking Max's hair with his hand and pulling her closer to him.

Max placed her hand on his cheek and soothingly rubbed circles into it. "Shh, shh quiet down Fang, he didn't rape me." His obsidian eyes turned to meet her chocolate ones. There was relief in his eyes, Max smiled and kissed him. Her lips were slightly chapped, but his were warm and soft. She turned her head to deepen the kiss and Fang followed suit. All thought left Max's brain, kissing Fang was bliss.

His hands made their way up her back, suddenly there was a slight stinging and Fang stopped in his tracks. They broke apart and Fang searched her eyes. His hands moved slightly and she winced as a jolt of pain surged through her.

"Max, let me see your back." He said with concern filling his voice.

Max bit her lip and shook her head. _No, I can't let him see what Dylan did to me._

"Max, please?" Fang begged, a bit of fear creeping into his voice. Max looked up into his eyes and she melted, all her resolve left. _Damn those eyes, I love those eyes._

Max gave a small nod and turned so Fang could see her back. She felt his hands touch the edge of her bandages and then slowly peel them back. Max winced once more.

The bandages were peeled all the way back. Now what Dylan had done to her was clearly visible. Fang stiffened and his hands began to shake with anger. Max started to sob.

"Dylan did this to you?" Fang asked through gritted teeth.

Max nodded with a sob.

Fang gathered her up in his arms, careful not to touch her injuries. He buried his head into her neck.

"I'm going to kill him." Fang whispered into her ear.

Max gave a small smile. "I'm glad we agree on something."

Fang smiled back and kissed her on the lips lightly. "I'm just glad to have you back."

"Me too." Max said holding him just a bit closer, then a noise just outside the door made her jump and hold Fang more tightly.

Dylan was coming.

"But we're not out of this yet."

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! So, no killing me, right? Be happy! Max and Fang are back together!**

**Max:**** Yay! **

***Fang and Max make out***

**Me:**** *rolls eyes* Well, I know they're happy to be back together. *smiles***

**BFF:**** You smiled! You like them kissing! Admit it!**

**Me:**** *sticks tongue out* No.**

**BFF:**** Or are you imagining kissing Iggy again?**

**Me:**** *blushes* No…**

**BFF:**** Liar.**


	27. Author's Note 3

Author's Note #3

Hey guys,

It was just brought to my attention that I had the blind guy driving, thank you so much _njdaphne_ for bringing that to my attention. I'm so sorry about that. I'm updating the chapter now and I'm having Nudge drive. She has a driver's permit, so she's allowed to, even though she's just 15. I don't know what the laws are in other places for when a kid can drive, but that's when you can legally start driving where I'm from, after you get the permit that is. Well, I'll update sometime soon, I'm fishing for ideas right now and I think I've got a good base for the next chap. You can be sure that the next chap will be action packed ;) See you guys next update.

Wander


	28. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

_**Disclaimer:**_** Don't own MR. (Sorry I couldn't come up with anything funny, oh look squirrel! Ha made you look. Oh. I didn't, well that sucks. ;P)**

**Me:**** Hey people! Sorry it took me so long to update! I've been super duper busy and the internet kinda sucks here at the moment, so I'm writing this today and I'll probably upload it tomorrow. It's weird talking in a future tense when I know that you're going to be reading it in your present tense. **

**BFF:**** Yeah, that is a bit weird. **

**Me:**** Anyways thanks for the awesome reviews everybody! Okay, I'll talk some more about them at the end of the chapter, but I'm going to go ahead and start the chapter for those who are anxious to read. ;)**

Fang's POV **(This chapter will overlap a bit of the last chapter. I just really wanted to do Fang's POV in that scene as well. It starts as Fang wakes up.)**

Fang was surrounded by darkness as he slowly emerged from unconsciousness. Everything was black, dark, silent, and cold. Ever so slightly his senses awoke and began to pick up small details of his environment. The floor was hard and cold. _Tile._ He thought to himself. The air smelt of iron, of blood, and lots of it. His stomach twisted a bit and he felt the acidic touch of bile in his throat. He forced it back down.

Then he felt something soft press against his lips, in his dazed state he wasn't sure how to respond. He wasn't even sure of what was pressing against his lips till they left. Another pair of lips. _Who's kissing me?_

He heard a sobbing sound and some words but he couldn't make them out. Slowly he began to remember why he was here. _Dylan told me to meet him in the park or he'd kill Max. Oh, no. What time is it? I have to get there now! Wait—I've already been there. That's why I'm here now. Dylan shot me, he thinks I'm dead so he brought me back to Max to break her. That must be who's crying. But I was wearing that bullet-proof vest Iggy gave me and the fake blood I got from Nudge, so I didn't die. Dylan only thought I did, and so does Max…_

Max laid her head down on Fang's chest and wept. Fang opened his eyes and looked at her, the side of her face was pressed over his heart, in doing so, he noticed, Max got the fake blood all over the side of her face. Max always said she was ugly when she cried, but Fang thought she was beautiful, even though he hated seeing her cry. He thought she was beautiful no matter what situation she was in.

Fang heard Max take in a sudden and surprised breath of air. He could see her chocolate brown eyes go wide and he began to move. For some reason the side of his face stung a bit. **(Remember Max slapping him, trying to wake him up?)** He let slip a moan as he went to sit up, Max's arms were wrapped around him loosely.

"Max?" He called out, his vision slightly blurring from sitting up too fast. It took a moment for it to return to normal and for his head to stop spinning.

He looked at Max. She looked like a wreak. A beautiful wreck, but a wreak all the same. Her shoulder was purple with bruising and looked tender to the touch. Her knees were scrapped up a bit and had light bruising from what looked like falls. There was blood on her shirt, like he'd seen in the video, but somehow, seeing it in person just made it worse. There was a dark bruise forming across her cheek. Fang could tell that the bruising didn't just come from the one hit he'd seen on the video.

_Dylan is going to die._

Tears welled up in Max's eyes. Dylan seems to have affected everything about her, even her eyes, which are now hinted with fear, something that Fang had never seen in them before._ He raped her. That's why she's scared. Is she afraid of me now?_ Fang thought, sadly. Max being afraid of him? That was a very depressing thought.

"Fang!" She cried out and threw her arms around him, almost knocking him back down. He could hear the joy in her voice. _She isn't afraid of me. _He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, happy to have her back. There was one thing Dylan hadn't affected, Max's love for Fang.

"How?" She whispered in his ear. Fang reluctantly pulled one of his arms away from her and unbuttoned the top part of his shirt to reveal the bullet-proof vest Iggy had given him, now with one smashed bullet clinging to it directly over his heart.

"What about the blood?" Max asked him softly, wiping a bit of the red substance off of his cheek.

"It's fake. I got it from Nudge, I had to fool Dylan somehow," Fang replied sitting up. A spark of pain coursed through him, forcing a moan out of him. "That bullet's going to leave a bruise though."

Max traced the bullet with her fingertips lightly.

"I'm going to kill him for what he tried to do to you." She said with controlled anger in her voice, hugging Fang to her and rubbing circles into his back.

"What he tried to do to me?" Fang asked, pulling away from her to look her in the eye. "What about you?" He found himself struggling to say the next words and stuttered slightly. "Max, he said he r-raped you." _He hurt Max, he beat her and violated her. He took something special from her. He raped her, and I couldn't stop him. It's all my fault. What if she's never the same? What if she gets scared of me? I don't know if I could handle that. _Fang began to sob, and he held her close to him and stroked her beautiful, blood-stained, sun-streaked hair, worried that this might be the last time he could do it without freaking her out.

Max placed her hand on his cheek and wiped away the tears, rubbing calming circles into the side of his face. He looked at her. She was always caring, putting others before herself. It made Fang want to cry even harder.

"Shh, shh," She said in a loving voice. "Quiet down Fang, he didn't rape me."

Fang looked into her eyes and saw the truth in them, and then he breathed a sigh of relief. _Dylan lied to me, thank God. _

Then Max smiled and kissed him. In about a span of three seconds Fang's mind went from this O to this *. **(Thought it'd be funny to do this, you know since Max seems to say this quite a few times in the books, or at least it seems like that to me, when she kisses Fang)** He closed his eyes and kissed her back fiercely, not in a demanding way, but a passionate way. Max tilted her head to deepen their kiss and Fang did the same. He wet her dry lips with the tip of his tongue. Max opened her mouth and they were about to French kiss when Fang slid his hands up her back and felt her wince in pain.

He froze and pulled back, leaving his hands on her back. Fang looked deeply into her eyes, she was hiding something. He moved to remove his hands and ask her what was wrong, but she jolted with pain as his hands brushed up against her back.

"Max," He said, concern and fear leaking into his voice. _What had Dylan done to her back that made her hurt so badly? _"Let me see your back."

She bit her lip, some of the fear from earlier returning to her eyes. She shook her head.

"Max," He begged, though not all of him was sure he wanted to see. _What had Dylan done to her?_ "Please?"

She looked up into his eyes, and he could see that he had won. She gave a small nod and turned so that Fang could see her back.

The entire top half of Max's back was covered in a large bloody gauze bandage. Fang's felt a chill go down his spine as he reached for the edge of it. He slowly lifted it, trying his best not to cause her any pain, still Max winced.

The bandage was completely pulled back now. Fang's hands began to shake with rage as he read what Dylan had _carved_ into her back.

_Property of Dylan Summers_

"Dylan did this to you?" Fang asked, barely containing his rage. Max nodded and began to sob. Fang pulled her to him, carefully avoiding touching her wounds. He buried his head into her neck, on the side that didn't have the dark purple bruising.

Fang wanted to rip Dylan's head off, chop his body into bite-sized bits, and feed it to alligators. **(SHOUT OUT TO AN AWESOME REVIEWER WITH A VIVID IMAGINATION!)** He had tortured Max, beaten her, tried to kill Fang, said he raped Max and said he was going to do it again, told Fang he was going to kill Max, _**and**_ carved into her flesh that Max was his?

_This bastard is going to die. Slowly and painfully._

"I'm going to kill him." Fang promised Max, whispering it into her ear.

"I'm glad we agree on something." She smiled. Fang had missed that smile so much.

Fang kissed her smile lightly. Treasuring it and the girl it belonged to. "I'm just glad to have you back."

"Me too." Max breathed, closing her eyes with relief. Then a noise just outside the door jolted her and her eyes grew wide with fear. _Dylan must be coming._ "But we're not out of this yet." Max finished, pushing Fang back to the floor. Forcing him to lie down.

"Play dead." She said urgently.

Fang begrudgingly agreed. He really wanted to pummel Dylan, but Max knew him better than Fang did. He lay down in Max's lap. She wrapped her arms around him. They looked skinner than he remembered. _Dylan must've been starving her._ Fang half contemplated ignoring Max's orders and socking Dylan in the mouth. But he loyally followed her instructions.

He closed his eyes and settled his face into a passive expression just as the door opened.

**A/N **

**Me:**** Okay, so I ended a chap in yet another cliffy. Sorry, I just couldn't resist. **

**BFF:**** Why won't you just get on with the story I'm dying here!**

**Me:**** It's Max and Fang's reunion moment. I thought you'd like it.**

**BFF:**** I do!**

**Me:**** Then whatcha complaining for? *sticks tongue out* Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you guys sooooo much for your reviews and support! I can't believe The Runaway Case already has 75 reviews! Do you know how awesome that is? It is freaking awesomesauce, that's how awesome that is! On a scale from 1 to 10 it's a 100! **

_**AFanOfFax**_** I'm glad you liked the chapter ;) I promise some major action in the next chapter since it wasn't in this one. To answer your question, I'd have to say I'm probably most like Fang, except for the fact that I'm a girl, it may not seem like it when I write, but I'm much more comfortable writing what I want to say than saying it. So I'm usually pretty silent and I can be a bit anti-social at times, especially around a large crowd of people I don't know. Plus my favorite color's black, I am extremely sarcastic, and I've been called emo before, which I find to be weird since I don't cut and I actually do wear color. Maybe it's my obsession for hoodies…**

_**Njdaphne**_** thank you so much! And yes! FAX FOREVER! And I definitely think that Dylan should go step on a Lego in the dark too! I've done it before, it hurts. He should step on like a bazillion of them! **

_**TheNightOwl13**_**, very interesting comment ;) **

**BFF:**** Well, toodle loo, or however you spell it, see you next chapter!**

**Me:**** Please keep reviewing!**


	29. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

_**Disclaimer:**_** MR is not my property. It's JP's. But hey, I own this plot line and BFF so, it's all good. ;)**

**Me:**** Hey guys!**

**BFF:**** Hi!**

**Me:**** Thanks for the reviews guys! They were awwwweeeeessssome!**

**BFF:**** Yeah. *sneaks a glare at Wander***

**Me:**** Caught that. Don't mind BFF, she's jealous because I hung out with Gabby yesterday and had tons of fun shooting funny videos of the two of us goofing off.**

**BFF:**** *huffs***

**Me:**** I pretended to be a zombie. It was cool. *fidgets a bit***

**BFF:**** But you're afraid of zombies, why in the world would you want to act like one?**

**Me:**** Making fun of your greatest fears help you to overcome them.**

**BFF:**** *acts like a zombie***

**Me:**** Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! *runs away* **

**BFF:**** *calls out loudly to Wander* Well you're going to have to work on that quite a bit!**

**Me:**** Where the heck is my Zombie Killing Button!?**

Max's POV

The door opened. Max stiffened and held onto Fang, pulling him away from Dylan. Not wanting to give the monster another chance to hurt him. She leaned over him, shielding his body with her own. Her hair fell over him, tickling his face. Fang shifted slightly, but not enough for Dylan to notice. She could tell Fang desperately wanted to trade places with her, but then they'd both be dead.

Dylan's footsteps came closer and the door shut with a bang that made Max jump. Dylan smirked. She scowled at him.

"Well, Maxi, are you done moping about?" Dylan says. He's not asking, he's commanding she be done. Too bad for him she has never been good with people telling her what to do.

"No, I am sure as hell not done moping about. Now leave me the hell alone you bastard." Max fumed with utter rage. _How could he act like Fang's "death" would be nothing to me? I was devastated when I thought I had lost him._ Max tugged Fang's limp and heavy form further away from Dylan and laid his upper half across her lap, keeping his head up.

"Well, too bad sweetheart. I'm done waiting." Dylan replied, grabbing a hold of Max's upper arm and attempting to drag her away. Max turned and quickly sunk her teeth into Dylan's hand, forcing the monster to yelp out.

"I told you to leave me alone." Max said spitting Dylan's poisonous blood from her mouth. She could almost feel Fang internally smirking and smirked herself. _Serves Dylan right to bleed for what he did._

Dylan turned to her with burning eyes, a psychotic anger consuming him. His arm shot out and grabbed a fistful of her blonde hair and then dragged her away from Fang. Max felt Fang's hand holding tightly onto hers in an attempt to keep Dylan from taking her from him. Thankfully Dylan didn't seem to notice the fact that Fang was not dead, but very much alive.

Her captor ripped her from Fang's grasp and slammed her against the wall, pressing himself against her roughly. His back to Fang. Max vainly tried to push Dylan away, but he was too strong. She screamed out in fear and frustration.

"That's right baby, scream for me." He whispered the revolting words into her ear. She shut her mouth in defiance and struggled more. Fang was quickly getting to his feet behind Dylan, and frantically searched for a weapon. Seeing none, he quietly approached the monster from behind, careful to keep him unaware of his movements.

"I said scream for me!" Dylan shouted in her ear. Max winced from the pain in her ear.

When Max refused to obey him, Dylan wrapped one hand around her wind pipe and began groping her with the other, effectively forcing her to choose between blocking his violations of her or breathing. Any human being would choose breathing. Max's eyes began to brim with tears. _Fang where are you?_

Then suddenly Dylan wasn't there anymore, but lying in a heap across the room, where Fang had tossed him.

"Don't you dare touch her you mongrel." Fang spat through gritted teeth. Max wheezed in the background, trying to catch her breath.

"Wha—how—how are you—" Dylan stuttered, confusion lacing his features that soon turned into anger. "I killed you!"

"Obviously not." Fang said with a raised eyebrow as if questioning the man's intelligence. That brought a smile to Max's face, seeing Fang speak in a condescending manner to her kidnapper. Simple greatness.

Dylan began to dig around in his pockets, searching for something. Max's eyes widened. _His gun._

"Fang! He's got a gun!" She screamed out, but Fang only gave a cocky smile, which both confused and frightened Max.

Dylan let out a frustrated yell and turned to Fang and Max angrily. Then Fang smirked and showed him the gun that was in his hand. Dylan's gun. "Looking for this?" Fang asked, pointing the gun at him. Dylan's eyes widened with fear.

Fang chuckled to himself. "It doesn't feel good does it, being at the other end?"

Max slowly stood up and walked up to Fang, taking his free hand in hers. It was then that Fang seemed to have noticed the chains around Max's wrist. "Where's the key?" Fang asked Dylan, whose face went hard. He refused to answer. Fang's eyes narrowed and he clicked the hammer of the revolver back. **(I watched a criminal investigation show one time and the whole thing centered around the fact that a criminal was using a revolver because revolvers don't leave bullet casings behind, I thought that was pretty interesting, so I put it in here as Dylan's gun, you know, since he's a criminal)**

_He's bluffing. He has to be. Fang would never kill someone, not over something as stupid as a key. _But still he was pretty angry. Cooling down the situation would probably be a good idea._ I don't want Fang to have to live with the guilt of having killed someone, even someone who deserved it as much as Dylan did._

"Fang," She said, squeezing his hand, he nodded to acknowledge that he heard her. "It's okay, we'll call the police or somebody, the locks won't be too hard to pick." She reasoned with him.

"The key is in my pocket." Dylan said calmly. Max caught something in the monster's eye as he said it and she blocked Fang from going over and taking it from him.

"Don't," She said earnestly to Fang. "I can wait."

"All the phone lines are cut in the house and you don't have a cell phone." Dylan spoke up. Max could tell his confidence was regaining its strength. "How are you going to call the police without leaving little Maxi here _defenseless_?" He asked, smirking when he said 'defenseless' and putting as much unsaid meaning into it as he could. Max glared at him but couldn't help but shiver.

"He's just trying to get under your skin." She whispered to Fang and he gave her that 'I'm about to burn this guy's ass' look.

"Do you think I'm that stupid Dylan? You are so predictable. You tried to kill me and when you thought I was dead, you brought me straight to where I wanted to go. Straight to Max. You never even bothered to check if I was alive or dead, or to check anything other than my pockets. You're overconfident." Fang lifted up his shoe. "I had a tracker in my shoe this entire time. They already know where we are and they'll be here in minutes."

Fang's POV **(I kept going back to Fang's POV when I was writing Max's, so I'm going to just write in Fang's for the rest of the chap)**

"Guess I don't have much to loose." Dylan said, almost sadly, before an evil smile cracked across his pale face and his hand wrapped around the chain that was attached to Max's wrist. He jerked the chain back towards him. Max crashed to the ground and Dylan pulled her toward him. Fang dove after her and stopped her progression towards the monster.

The gun was momentarily knocked from Fang's hands. He quickly grabbed it and, noticing he was now too close to use the gun against Dylan without having it taken from him, dismantled it, tossing the parts in all directions.

Dylan let out an angry cry and kicked Fang over as he began to stand up, then he jumped on top of Fang and started wailing on him. Fang blocked most of his blows and lashed out at his attacker. Max tackled Dylan from behind, distracting him long enough to give a chance for Fang to get away. Then Dylan grabbed Max and tossed her into a wall. She let out a soft cry as a few of her wounds reopened. Fang could clearly see the blood seeping into her shirt and he grinded his teeth, remembering how she had gotten those wounds.

_I'm going to kill him for hurting her._

Fang ran at Dylan and punched him in the jaw, putting all of his hatred and anger for Max's kidnapper into the action. Dylan spun around and hit the floor, and then he swept out his leg and knocked Fang off of his feet. Something fell out of Fang's jacket pocket and skidded across the floor toward Max. She quickly picked it up and aimed the gun at Dylan as he placed a knife to Fang's throat.

"I don't have much to loose, but you do sweetheart."

**A/N**

**Me:**** Sorry guys to leave you off with the worst cliffhanger ever.**

**The Entire Gang **(Minus Tom, he and BFF aren't together any more but he may come back later as a friend) **:**** *death glares***

**Me:**** *gulps* I promise I will update sometime soon though.**_** AFanOfFax**_** thank you so much you're awesome! And I agree with your statement about black, black is awesome! I got a review from one of your friends! Btw hi **_**AFanOfFax**_**'s friend, I'm glad you love it! **_**Njdaphne**_**, I love your porky pine comment. Porky pines are awesome!**

**BFF:**** They're so cute and fluffy!**

**Iggy:**** Fluffy?**

**BFF:**** Yes, **_**fluffy.**_

**Iggy:**** You do know they're covered in spikes, right?**

**BFF:**** I. Don't. Care. **

**Me:**** Please keep reviewing! Reviews are so awesome. **

**BFF:**** They're like unicorns.**

**Me:**** No, dragons, dragons are awesome. They breathe fire.**

**Pyromaniac (A.K.A. Iggy):**** YES!**

**Me:**** *evil smile***

**BFF:**** You two are scary, you know that right?**


	30. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own MR**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! Since I left you with such an awful cliffhanger last time, I put up the next chap as soon as I could. **

**BFF:**** Yay!**

**Me:**** Thank you guys for the reviews! They were awesome! I'll answer some of the reviews at the end, so, on with the story!**

**BFF:**** Yippee!**

Max's POV

Max's eyes widened with fear. Dylan had a knife to Fang's throat. He was going to kill him.

"Let him go!" She screamed at him aiming the gun at Dylan.

Dylan gave her a raised eyebrow and looked down to Fang, pressing the knife to his neck. A dribble of blood began to fall from the shallow cut. Max felt the panic taking over her and started to shake horribly. There was no way she could shoot Dylan without killing Fang.

"Please?" Max begged, tears streaking her face at the thought of losing Fang, like she had thought before when Dylan brought him in but this time he wouldn't come back.

"Hmmm, no." Dylan said pressing the knife further. Fang winced at the pain, but his jaw was set.

"No, please, don't!" Max cried. "I'll do anything, whatever you want, just let him live." She began to sob, imagining what Dylan would want from her.

Dylan looked at her for a moment, examining her body. Max shivered in disgust. "Whatever I want?" He asked with a smirk, knowing he'd get it. Max lowered the gun.

"No, Max! Don't do it! I'm not worth it!" Fang yelled out to her.

She turned and met his eyes, giving him a sad smile. _Yes you are._ She told him with her eyes.

"Whatever you want." She answered Dylan sadly.

Fang stared at her wide-eyed and struggled against Dylan, trying to free himself. Dylan led him over to the wall and to chain him up.

"No, you have to let him go!" Max protested as Dylan chained up Fang and Fang wildly punched at him.

"I agreed to let him live, not to let him go." Dylan replied. "Now, toss the gun away from you."

"Don't—" Fang yelled, but was cut off by Dylan punching him in the gut.

"Leave him alone!" Max screamed.

"Toss the gun away from you." Dylan replied, Max slid the gun across the room, crying as she did so. "And lie on the ground. If you struggle at all, I'll kill him." She nodded in acknowledgement, lying down on the ground.

"Max!" Fang screamed out, struggling against his chains, trying to get to her.

Dylan made his way over to her. He knelt down and hovered over her, his hands touched her and she cried. He leaned over and kissed her, forcing his tongue into her mouth, but she dared not struggle. Then he broke away and she was momentarily free of him, she breathed a sigh of relief in her mind, afraid to actually do it, afraid that she might enrage Dylan and then he'd kill Fang.

"Kiss me back. Say you're mine." He demanded. Max turned her head to see Fang. He was raging with anger.

"You get away from her!" He screamed and then met Max's eyes. She was crying. _I'm sorry. _She mouthed to him, then something caught her eye and she glanced over. Fang followed her gaze. The gun Max had tossed was just within Fang's reach.

She turned back to Dylan. He was still waiting impatiently for her to answer him. He was playing with the hem of her shorts, unbuttoning them. He couldn't know about the gun, she had to distract him.

She looked over to Fang. He met her eyes once more. "I'm yours." She said to him. Fang gave a smile. _I'm yours too._ It said.

"Say it to my face." Dylan growled.

Max reluctantly turned to him. Her teeth were clenched, she didn't want to say it to him, but if she didn't he'd kill Fang. She closed her eyes. "I'm yours."

"Open your eyes and say it to my face." Dylan said. His voice was murderous. Max reluctantly opened her eyes and repeated 'I'm yours' in a monotone, glaring at him. _I'm _not_ yours Dylan._

"Now kiss me back when I kiss you." He said and then whispered in her ear. "Then we'll get to the real fun."

Max shivered with disgust, but Dylan mistook it. "That's it, sweetheart." He whispered in her ear, licking the side of her neck. His hands were delving beneath her shirt. "Make this the best night of my life, and I'll make sure it's yours too. I'll do way better than this little nose wipe ever did." He gestured to Fang.

Max's face hardened and she glared at him. _Fang and I have never done _it_, you assuming asshole, and this would be the worst night of my life if you did _it _to me. You'd be raping me. _She caught a glimpse of Fang grabbing a hold of the gun. _But you won't rape me, you will never rape me._

Max kicked her leg upward, catching Dylan in the groin. He groaned and fell to the side, holding his injured crotch. He shot her a death glare. She got up and gave an innocent smile in return and then punched him in the face.

"I'm going to kill you." Dylan ground out spitting out a bit of blood. A gun clicked in the background.

"Don't even think about it." Fang said with the gun aimed at Dylan's head.

Dylan growled and Max kicked him. He curled up into a protective ball.

"That's for being a manipulative bastard."

She kicked him again.

"That's for my family."

Another kick.

"That's for keeping my dad in jail."

Kick to the stomach. Dylan cried out in pain.

"That's for threatening to kill my boyfriend."

Blow to the head.

"That's for blackmailing him."

Kick to the crotch. Dylan gasped.

"That's for almost killing him."

Hit to the back.

"That is for using him against me."

Hard kick.

"That's for carving your name in my back."

Punch to the stomach.

"That's for beating me senseless."

Punch. Dylan coughed and spat out blood once more.

"That's for trying to rape me."

Kick to the face.

"And that, that's for those other girls you raped and murdered."

Max bent down and took the key from his pocket. Dylan moaned in pain. She looked at him with disgust and unlocked her chains. Then she headed over to Fang, there was a smile on his face.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side." He smirked and then pulled her close to him with one arm. His gun still trained on Dylan's beaten form.

She smiled and buried her head into his chest, sudden exhaustion taking over her. "I will." She breathed.

Fang looked down at her, concern filling his eyes. "Are you okay?"

She unlocked the chains binding him. She nodded. "Just tired," She said. "Can we go home?"

He gave a small smile. His eyes were warm and loving. "Yeah, let's go home." He said. "But let's make sure this bastard goes to jail first."

Max smiled at him, and then leaned up to kiss him on the lips. Their lips met and Max's eyes were filled with tears of joy. She smiled as she and Fang locked lips. She was so relieved, so happy it was over. Dylan would go to jail and this time stay there and she and Fang would live happily ever after. It was almost too good to be true.

Maybe it was, because not a half a minute after she kissed Fang she heard a wild, angry yell from Dylan. She turned and saw him getting up. In his hand was something sharp and silver. She stepped in front of Fang. There was a flash of silver spinning towards her, it hit her and she fell.

**A/N**

**Me:**** Okay, so, sorry for yet another extremely terrible cliffhanger. **

**BFF:**** *death glare* I am going to kill you!**

**Me:**** No, you're not.**

**BFF:**** *huffs* No, but I want to strangle you very badly.**

**Me:**** *gulps* **

**Iggy:**** Okay, moving on people. **

**Me:**** Yeah. **

_**Guest**_**, no, my name is not really Wander, but I wish it was because I like the name a lot. To wander is to travel aimlessly, and I travel a lot. So it kinda fits for me. Wandering makes me wonder and wondering keeps me wandering.**

_**AFanOfFax**_** I totally get what you mean by confusing other people when you are talking with your friend. Some of the conversations I have with Gabby are so crazy that even I don't understand them at times. Sadly none of my friends really read Fanfiction. Well Gabby does, but she's only read my stories so far as I know. I hope your heart freeze from the last cliffy is cured, and I hope this cliffy doesn't make it worse! I'll update soon, I don't think the next chap will end in a cliffy, or at least I'm not planning for it to. Please keep reviewing your reviews are awesome! **

_**AFanOfFax's friend**_** I'm so glad you reviewed! I hope you are having a great day and have lots of fun! You have an amazing friend and so does she. ;)**

_**TheWhoLockedSupernaturalist**_** thank you for reviewing and I think Dylan deserves to be tortured too, I hope that getting beat up by a girl made everybody a bit happier. He deserves worse, and I promise you he will get worse. I have seen the **_**Princess Bride**_** and I love it, it is so freaking funny! "To the pain, Dylan Summers!"**

_**Njdaphne **_**I like **_**Warm Bodies**_** too and **_**Zombieland**_**. The only reason I don't like zombies are for the movies like **_**World War Z**_** and **_**Resident Evil**_**. I really hate scary movies and I don't understand why anybody would want to intentionally scare the piss out of themselves, but whatever, to each their own. As for me I would pick humorous zombie movies over scary zombie movies any day. What really scares me about zombies (Other than the zombies in **_**Warm Bodies**_**) is that they don't have anything left in them that is human, no logic, and no reason. They just run at you without any sense of self-preservation. *shivers* Everything human is wiped away and you're left with a rabid animal. *hides in a corner***

**Iggy:**** Are you okay?**

**Me:**** Can we go watch a funny movie so I don't think about zombies?**

**Iggy:**** Yeah, how does **_**Spaceballs**_** sound?**

**Me:**_**Spaceballs**_** sounds amazing.**


	31. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

_**Disclaimer:**_** Maximum Ride is not my creation, it's JP's.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! Guess what?! Two chapters, One day! **

**BFF:**** Whoo-hooo! **

**Me:**** In the last 6 or 7 hours I have been accused of murdering **_**Maximumride11446**_**'s heart, told that if I don't update **_**Guest **_**will die epically, damned by another **_**Guest**_** for my cliffy, said to have a terrible cliffhanger, which I did, told I should post more, and yelled at for yet another cliffy, and let me tell you, thank you so much for your reviews! Your desire to read more of my story helps me a lot. Knowing that people love it is really cool. **

_**Njdaphne**_** I would have said the same thing if my friend Gabby asked me that, but I'd know for sure that she was crazy if she asked me to go to a scary movie. She doesn't like them very much, she's into chick flicks and romance movies, which is almost the opposite of what I like in movies, which is action and mystery. I prefer my romance in book form, somehow it's more real to me that way. Do you feel the same way?**

**BFF:**** Okay, on with the show.**

Fang's POV

Dylan let out an angry war cry and Max jumped out in front of Fang. There was a flash of silver and she cried out. She fell and Fang caught her and under her unexpected weight, fell too, cushioning her fall with his body.

"Max!" He called out and then froze. There was a knife protruding from Max's side. Panic exploded within him. "Max, Max!" She didn't respond. "Come on, say something! Max!"

She stirred, Fang felt a slight bit of relief. _She's still here, she's still here. _Then she coughed up blood and that small bit of relief was all but gone. "Fang?" She whispered, her eyes closing.

"Max, Max stay with me! Don't you dare close your eyes!" Fang cried out pulling her into his arms. He could hear Dylan approaching the two of them. Fang looked up at the monster and lifted up the gun. Dylan would never _ever_ hurt Max again.

A shot rang out, Dylan fell to the ground. Fang looked around confused. He hadn't fired. His eyes found the door. There in the entrance was the sheriffwith his gun smoking. **(Betcha weren't expecting that)** On his left and right were Iggy and Nudge.

Fang looked down at Max. Her eyes were closing again.

"Max, no! Keep your eyes open, look at me! Don't close your eyes, stay with me!" He shook her a bit. She opened her eyes, wheezed, and coughed up more blood. He turned to the others. "Don't just stand there! Call an ambulance!"

Nudge pulled out her phone and called 911, telling them to hurry and get here with an ambulance. Iggy ran over to his sister's side. Fang couldn't understand how Iggy knew exactly where she was, but somehow he knew. There was raw panic flooding his best friend's face, the same as Fang's. Nudge came over as soon as she was done with the 911 call. Her worry was sketched across her face.

"Is she okay? What happened to her?" Iggy asked frantically.

"Dylan threw a knife, it's in her side. I think it must've punctured her lung. What should I do? I can't—I can't—if she—" Fang broke off into sobs and then he felt a hand wrap around his. He looked down at Max, her hand was holding his. She gave him a small smile. There was blood on her lips.

"I'm going—to be—okay, Fang." She managed, speaking seemed difficult for her. "She turned to the police officer. "Sheriff?" He turned, acknowledging her. "The—the deputy—he was working—for Dylan."

The sheriff looked flabbergasted. "What? Jack? My deputy? How—"

"Sheriff, I don't think now is a very good time." Iggy interrupted and reached out with his hand to pull out Dylan's knife.

"No, don't." Fang said to him, blocking his hand. Iggy stopped. "Remember what happened to that Steve Irwin guy? If you pull the knife out, she might bleed to death." Iggy backed away, quickly, but stayed close to her with concern-filled eyes.** (I loved Steve Irwin when I was a kid, he was crazy, but I loved him. He was my childhood hero and I cried like a baby when I found out that he died)**

Fang bent down and placed his forehead against hers. He closed his eyes. _Don't die, Max. Please, don't die. You are my life, when you die, I die._

"Max, I love you. Please, stay." Fang begged her, holding her in his lap, careful to avoid the knife in her side. He cried and kissed her cheek. "Don't go, stay."

"I love you—too, Fang—and I'm not—going anywhere." She gasped out. Blood dribbled from her wound and soaked into his cloths. She coughed up more blood.

"Try not to speak, Max. The ambulance will be here soon." Iggy said soothingly, holding her other hand tightly as if to keep her from slipping away from them. Fang's hand tightened around hers as well. He'd do anything to keep Max here with him.

"I'm going to go outside and keep a watch for the ambulance." Nudge said and gave Max's arm a squeeze. "Don't go anywhere, got it?" Nudge said. Max nodded, taking Iggy's advice to not speak.

Nudge left to go outside. A few minutes later Nudge came bursting through the doors. "They're here!" She screamed and the paramedics filed in behind her. They quickly brought in two gurneys and loaded Max onto one gently. A few went over to Dylan and the sheriff intercepted them and warned them about the monster. They approached him warily, under the sheriff's watchful eye. They checked his pulse and declared him dead on the scene, having drowned in his own blood. Then the paramedics zipped him up in a body bag and threw him onto the other gurney. **(Yay! Dylan's dead…or is he? No, I'm just kidding. Dylan's dead.)**

They rushed Max to the ambulance with Fang, Iggy, and Nudge following close behind.

"Just one of you can get in," The paramedic loading Max into the ambulance said. "The others will have to follow in their own car."

Fang desperately wanted to go with Max. He glanced at Iggy. The last time Max had been injured, Iggy had been forced to go to the hospital in a separate vehicle and then he got in a wreck and went blind. _What if he got in a wreck again?_ Stupid superstition. _But still—_

"Iggy—" Fang began, but Iggy cut him off. He knew just what Fang was thinking.

"Go. Max needs you, go." Iggy said gesturing toward the ambulance. They almost had Max in it.

"But—"

"Don't worry about me. Nudge is a way better driver than my dad." Iggy replied and Nudge blushed.

"Thanks, Ig." Fang said, getting inside the ambulance, where Max awaited him.

They closed the doors and the paramedics began their work to save Max's life. Fang held onto her hand. It was light in his grasp. His heart pounded and the sirens blared. They hooked Max up to a monitor. Her heartbeat was erratic and the monitor screamed. The paramedics yelled at each other trying to stop the blood flow. Max began to cough uncontrollably.

Quickly they put a respirator over her mouth and pulled out the knife. Fang wanted to yell at them and ask them what the hell they were doing. But they were doctors, they knew how to treat the wound, right? _They'd better._

Then they put a bandage over the wound. Max was unconscious now, but her heart was starting to beat regularly.

They pulled into the hospital and the paramedics rushed her inside with Fang in tow. They took her into one of the emergency rooms. One of them stayed outside to keep Fang out.

"Let me in!" He yelled at the paramedic.

"I can't, kid. I'm sorry." The paramedic replied.

Fang, not being able to see Max anymore, began to panic. "God damn it! Let me in! I've got to see her! Is she okay? Please, tell me!"

"Quit flipping out, your girlfriend's gonna be just fine, kid. They're just making sure the bleeding stopped and that other things are taken care of. Her lung was punctured, but it was a small cut so it should heal itself within a couple weeks." The man said, trying to calm Fang down. Fang let out a huge sigh of relief at the paramedic's words, but he still wanted to see Max. **(It didn't say how long it took to heal in the article I found about punctured lungs so I took an educated guess, I'll put the website address at the end of this chapter)**

"Why can't I see her?" Fang asked him.

"They're performing surgery on her."

"On her lung?"

The paramedic fidgeted. "Her back, mostly, they're stitching her up and giving her antibiotics." He said simply and turned to look down the hallway at a black body bag on a gurney heading toward the morgue. "I heard what they're saying, did that guy really do that to her?" He asked in a low whisper.

Fang nodded sadly. He'd completely forgotten about her other wounds. Then again, that was pretty understandable, considering she'd had a knife stuck in her side. The man patted him on his shoulder.

"Go back to the waiting room. I'm sure the others will be worried sick." The man said. _I'm worried sick._ Fang thought to himself. "I'll call you when they're done. You'll have to wait a half an hour for recovery, but you should be able to see her after that."

Fang nodded reluctantly and gazed at the door. Max was just beyond it, but he'd have to wait.

The paramedic escorted him back to the waiting room where Iggy, Nudge, Fang's mother, Max's mom and newly released father awaited.

**A/N**

**Me:**** So, what'd ya think? Come on, please review and tell me! I really want to know!**

**BFF:**** Okay, this chapter came with several new developments.**

**Me:**** First of all Max got a knife thrown at her and it punctured her lung and she had to go to the hospital. Max's father was released from jail. The sheriff who was a real big jerk in the beginning suddenly turns hero by killing Dylan. (I'll explain the sheriff and his change of heart later) Yay! Dylan's dead! He didn't die as torturously as he deserved, but I hear that drowning is a very bad way to go. Getting water in your lungs really sucks and it burns. I would think blood would be worse. I made Dylan's own blood drown him to symbolize how his own acts and hatred for others turned against him, choking him like the girls he had killed. Okay, that made a whole lot more sense in my head. It's hard to think straight right now, I'm really hungry. I'm going to take a quick snack break. *runs to kitchen***

**I'm back! *licks peanut butter off of spoon***

**BFF:**** Why aren't you eating ice cream?**

**Me:**** Because it's Max's ice cream and she'd kill me for eating it.**

**BFF:**** *looks down at ice cream bowl* Oh…umm, Wander?**

**Me:**** You are so screwed.**

**Max:**** *storms in* Okay, who ate my ice cream? **

Here's the website address to that site I used for the information I used for the whole punctured lung thing:

article/208367-what-are-the-treatments-for-punctur ed-lungs/


	32. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

_**Disclaimer:**_** Sorry people, I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys, BFF and I are hiding from Max in the hall closet.**

**BFF:**** Ahhhh! Spider! Get it off me! Get it off me! Get it off me!**

**Me:**** *flicks imaginary spider off of BFF* Sorry for not updating sooner, I have been kicking back a bit, I got overloaded and stressed and that's not a very good environment for writing. Btw, 121 reviews, **_**hooooly crap!**_** You guys are the freaking bomb diggity!**

**BFF:**** Okay, to answer some questions, **_**Fly On Maximum Taylor Ride**_**, Fang left the ring he got for Max on her bedside table with his letter for her just in case he died. What was in Fang's pocket was an automatic pistol he got from Iggy, dropped, and was picked up by Max when he and Dylan were fighting. I hope that cleared up some of that confusion.**

**Me:**_**DntlessAnnabeth**_**, I'm not sure where you got the idea that Max's dad abuses her in this fanfic, but he actually is a good guy in this story, though I may do another fanfic later in which he does. Could you please tell me why you thought that because I'm kinda confused? I'm glad you like my story so much and I can't wait for more reviews from you!**

**Max:**** Wander? BFF? Where are you? *fakes innocent voice* I promise I won't hurt you! *hears scraping along the ground***

**BFF:**** *gulp* I just want you to know that if we die here, Wander, you are the best friend I've ever had.**

**Me:**** And you're the best imaginary friend I've ever had.**

**BFF:**** Really? The imaginary thing again?**

**Me:**** What?**

Fang's POV

It's been hours since Max's surgery, she still hasn't woken up yet. Fang sits in a chair in the corner watching her. Half of him is chastising himself for acting like such a creeper, but the other half, the stronger half, is worried that if he so much as takes his eyes off of her for a second that she'll be gone again. Fang wouldn't be able to take it if that happened, so he sits there, like a creeper, and watches her.

Max looks peaceful, so much different than the frightened, scared look she'd had when they were in Dylan's lair.

_What did Dylan do to her in that place?_ He wondered. He wanted to know everything, and at the same time he wanted to know nothing about it, as if ignoring it would make what happened there disappear. Fang knew it wouldn't. Ignoring it would only make the problem worse, but Max would need time, time to get some distance between her and those events, so she could talk about it, so she could get better. But who knew how long that would take?

Fang got up and knelt beside Max's bed. There was no one else here. The others had gone home after the doctors had promised that she would be okay. Jeb had been a bit skeptical, as he seemed to be about just about anyone or anything with authority. _No wonder Max has so little respect for it._ Fang smirked at the thought. Eventually, however, Jeb's wife convinced him to go home and rest.

Fang had offered to stay with Max. Nobody objected, not even Max's father. They all knew how much Max meant to him.

Iggy had wanted to stay too, but Fang persuaded him to go home too, promising that if Max woke up while he was away, that he'd call him.

So far, Max has barely even stirred.

Fang reached out and lightly stroked the side of her face. Her eyes stayed closed, but her lips twitched into a smile. He smiled lovingly, leaned over, and kissed her forehead.

The steady rise and fall of her chest was comforting to him. It meant that her patched lung was working properly, which meant that she was on her way to recovery. It meant that she would live.

"I love you, Max." He whispered in her ear. "Always and forever."

He sat down beside her bed on the cold floor. One of Max's hands dangled from the side of the bed, he reached up and grabbed it, holding it with a firm, but soft, grip. Her hand was like ice. He rubbed his other hand over hers lightly, warming it.

There was a soft knock at the door. Fang got up and reluctantly tucked Max's hand under the covers, not wanting to let go of her.

He walked over to the door and opened it, keeping Max's form in the corner of his eye the entire time. _My superstitions must be getting to me._ He thought to himself.

When he opened the door, he found the sheriff standing there on the other side of the doorway.

"Sheriff, what are you doing here?" Fang asked, letting him into the room.

"I wanted to inform you that we caught Jack Berch, the guy Max said was working for Dylan. He ran off after he heard the gunshots. We got a full confession out of him and he's set to go to court in three weeks." He said, looking at the ground. "If Max is awake by then and up for it, we'll need her to testify."

Fang nodded, unsure of whether or not Max would be able to testify by then. He turned to go back and sit next to Max, assuming that the sheriff was done.

A hand landed on his shoulder and stopped him. He turned.

"Look, son, I'm sorry for how I acted before. I should have trusted you." He apologized. "Jack was my deputy and my friend. I got that letter from him. I never thought somebody could buy him out. I never thought he'd lie to me." He shook his head and took a breath before looking back up at Fang. "Then I pulled your friends over when they were on their way to help you, and I didn't believe them either. They had to take me to Mr. Ride's house and make me watch that video before I would listen to them. That's why it took them so long to get to you, and your friend got hurt because of it. I screwed up badly. I didn't listen to the people who knew Max the most. I arrested her father for trying to knock some sense into me. I didn't help you try to find her. I delayed your friends getting to you. Max got hurt, and I trusted the one person who was working for the guy who kidnapped her." The sheriff looked down at his feet in shame.

It was true and Fang had to agree with the sheriff, he screwed up _badly_, but it wasn't the sheriff's fault that any of this had happened. It was Dylan and the deputy's faults.

"Sir, it wasn't your fault. Sure, you need to learn about who to trust and who not to, but you were played. Dylan played you and he played me too. He used your friend against you, and he used Max against me. The only difference is that you didn't know." Fang said. The sheriff perked up at Fang's words.

The man gave a wide smile that touched his eyes. "Thanks, kid." He said and then glanced over at Max. "I hope she gets better soon."

"You and me both." Fang replied and then the sheriff left, closing the door behind him.

He walked around the bed and sat down on the edge of it, beside Max. She hadn't moved during his conversation with the sheriff. She was still deep within the clutches of sleep. Fang wished she would wake. He'd missed her so much. He'd almost lost her.

But she was here now and everything was going to be alright. So he could let her sleep, she needed it. _Let her dream of good things._

After a while, Fang convinced himself that he could look away from her for a moment, as long as he held her hand. He didn't want to lose her, ever. He wanted to be with her forever. She was his sun, without her, his world was darkness.

"If I asked you to marry me Max, what would you say?" Fang whispered, Max didn't hear, but she smiled in her sleep and that gave him all the confidence he needed.

He pulled out his phone and dialed.

"Hello?" Jeb answered on the second ring, clearly wide awake.

"Hello, Mr. Ride, it's Fang." He replied, quietly.

"Is she awake?" He asked hopefully.

"No, sir." He hated to dash the man's hopes, but honesty is always better than lies. "I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"It's about Max."

"What about her?"

"I wanted to ask for your permission to marry her."

**A/N**

**Me:**** Sorry guys, another cliffy, I just can't resist.**

**BFF:**** *crosses arms and sticks out tongue***

**Me:**** BFF is kinda mad at me.**

**BFF:**_**Kinda?**_

**Me:**** Okay, really mad. Anyways, I'm so glad you're excited about my story **_**AFanOfFax's friend**_** you have to send me a review telling me you're **_**AFanOfFax**_**'s friend when you get your account set up and your new pen name. I definitely feel you on the dumb blonde stuff, I forget things all the time, that's why I write everything down and then forget where I put the paper I wrote it down on two seconds later. I'm glad you love my author's notes and that you think they're funny. I have been working on my sense of humor and trying to get better at it. I plan to update as much as I can, but I'm going to summer classes (NOT SUMMER SCHOOL) tomorrow and everybody says I'll be up to my neck in homework, so I don't know how often I'll be able to update over the next three weeks. ;( **

**Njdaphne - Yes! Yes! Yes! Somebody feels the same way I do about Romance belonging in books! I love magic, mystery, and action in movies too! Mystery can go both ways for me, though I do prefer it in movies. Action and magic definitely belong to the big screen, there's so much more feeling to action and awe to the magic. They are visual, they're meant to be seen with the eye. Have you seen **_**Now You See Me**_**? It's one of my favorite movies. It has the perfect blend of mystery, magic, and action. I think you'd love it, too.**

_**TheNightOwl13**_**, I think you may have some anger management problems, then again if I were you I would feel the same way. Just remember, I'm a Disney girl, though I never dressed up like one! Okay, that's a lie. I did it one year for Halloween…okay, I had a Tinker Bell costume when I was little too…**

**BFF:**** Haha! You dressed up like a Disney princess!**

**Me:**** *glare* Well, I hope you don't mind being chased all over creation by Max. *pushes out of the closet***

**Max:**** There you are!**

**BFF:**** Ahhhhhhhh! *runs for the hills***

**Me:**** I'll go save her later. *sigh* Okay, where were we? **

_**Guest**_**, sorry for the cliffy. I hope you have a great birthday, it's 17 days from now, right? It sounds like you and your friends are going to have a blast! Happy early birthday to you from Wander! *snaps fingers and birthday cake appears* Enjoy this birthday cake I made for you! I hope the one you get on your birthday is amazing! Safe travels!**

_**AFanOfFax**_**, I'm sorry that BFF is in Max's war path too, I'm feeling really bad about leaving her to Max's wrath right now, I'll go save her. Give me a sec. **

**Max! I've got your favorite ice cream! It's cookie dough!**

**Max:**** *appears with a long trail of dust behind her* Give me the ice cream! *scary voice***

**Me:**** Here you go. *hands her the ice cream* Okay, back to earlier, **_**AFanOFFax**_**, I'm so glad I was able to save your life! ;) That's horrible about the hospital! I can't believe they'd be so incompetent! They should be more responsible and take care of people like they should be, not giving out shoty diagnosis and badly executed surgeries. I totally understand your rant, I would be ranting too. Well, I hoped you liked this chapter and don't get horribly sick with anticipation.**

**BFF:**** *walks up gasping for breath* You—are—a—jerk—you—left me—out—there—with—an—angry—Max.**

**Me:**** Yeah, I know I'm sorry.**

**BFF:**** Do you know how you can make it up to me?**

**Me:**** How?**

**BFF:**** *sprays Wander with Silly String* Apology accepted. **

**Me:**** Ugh, gross. *picks Silly String out of hair* **

(Sorry for the long A/N)


	33. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey, guys, I'm soooooooo sorry for not updating earlier, but like I said before, I'm in summer classes right now and I'm pretty swamped. I have to learn a school year's worth of stuff about Health and Speech (those are the classes I'm taking) in 17 days. Thankfully I get weekends off, but I wouldn't expect many updates during the week, I probably won't get very many chances to update until August 6****th****, that's my last day of classes.**

_**Guest**_** I'm sorry I haven't been supplying you with much reading material, I hope you're having fun with your grandparents and cousin! Tahiti sounds like fun, I haven't really heard much about it, where I live everybody talks about going to Hawaii, Costa Rica, or Cozumel when they talk about vacationing on an island, I hope you're parents are having fun there!**

_**AFanOfFax**_**! OMG! That is so freaky! I don't think my story's making you paranoid, those are personal questions and he doesn't need to know. Do Not Tell Him Where Your Bedroom Is No Matter What! Especially if he keeps on bugging you to tell him. He's being very creepy and if you need help I can always have Max go kick his butt!**

*****_**AFanOfFax**_**'s stalker boy appears***

**Max! Sic 'em!**

**Max:**** *growls and chases after stalker with baseball bat***

**Stalker Boy:**** *screams like a little girl and runs for the hills***

**Me:**** See? It's very effective. But seriously, if he keeps on bothering you tell your parents and get to a place with a lot of people that you know, stick around your friends, and don't get caught alone if you can help it. Buy some pepper spray if he makes you really uncomfortable. **

**Wishing you the best of luck!**

**Btw **_**SilenceIsAwesome**_** told me about your story! You should definitely post! PLEASE?! I really want to see your work! I might die from suspense if I don't get to see it, then **_**The Runaway Case **_**may never be finished and that would be a real shame… PLEASE POST! *bambi eyes* Please don't kill **_**SilenceIsAwesome**_** either, she's your friend and I bet she could kick stalker boy's butt to next Tuesday if he came anywhere near you. Anyways, if you got sent to jail for killing her I'd loose two of my favorite reviewers and that would really make me sad. *cry face* No Killing. Agreed? Say yes and I'll put an extra special bonus chapter at the end of the story. ;) Yes, I know, I'm bribing you, but still, deal?**

Max's POV

Do you know that point between everything and oblivion? That point when you first start to regain consciousness and you're struggling to stay asleep because you had this really weird but good dream and you wanted to see more of it?

Well, that's where Max is.

And she's not too happy about it.

_Five more minutes!_ She silently begged the sun that crept through the window.

But the sun wasn't having any of that and after about ten _looooong _minutes, she moaned and rolled over. Suddenly the room went crazy and alarms and beeping things went off everywhere. She shot up and someone dark and handsome ran to her bedside.

"Max! Are you okay?" Fang frantically called out, examining her for any injuries. His hands reaching for Max, but not touching her in fear of hurting her.

"I'm fine. I just rolled over. The sun was in my eyes." Max replied as non-sleepily as she could, taking his face in her hands, trying to calm him down.

He just stared at her for a moment and then cracked a smile and let out a burst of laughter. His laugh was deep and heartfelt, soothing and uplifting. It made Max happy just hearing it.

"What is it?" She asked him, curious.

"You, trying to stay asleep by rolling over, the machines blaring, scaring me to death." He said, taking her hand in his. "I don't know, maybe after all that's happened, I just need to laugh."

Max smiled and kissed him on the lips lightly before breaking away. "I like your laugh."

Fang smirked and ran a hand through her tangled hair, brushing a few knots out of it. "I like your kisses."

Max mocked hurt. "So that's why you keep me around? My kisses? You, sir, are a very shallow man."

Fang smiled at her joke and played along. "The shallowest there is." He winked, she laughed and bent over, trying to control the giggles. Immediately her back flared with pain, she gasped and her hand shot over clamping over her injury as if covering would take away the pain.

"Max? What is it? Are you okay?" Fang spouted out with new found panic, his hands hung uselessly in the air, unsure of what to do.

"My back—it hurts." She winced, clenching her teeth.

The door burst open and doctors flooded in.

"What happened?" Doctor Number One asked Fang while Doctor Number Three tried to push him out the door.

_Oh, I don't think so._

"Kick him out of this room and I'll rip off your head." Max growled at Dr. Three. He backed away slowly and Fang reassumed his place at Max's side.

Doc Two started examining Max as One restated his question to Fang.

"Max woke up and we started to joke around." Fang replied. "She bent over and then she said her back hurt." He glanced over at her. She took his hand and squeezed it to let him know she was okay.

Two pulled back the bandage and looked at her back, poking at it. Max growled, annoyed by the doctor's prodding. But she was unfazed by Max's unspoken death threat. _This lady's got a backbone._ Max thought to herself. _She might have earned a few respect points._

"It looks like a few of your stitches broke. It's nothing major, but we'll have to fix it or your back may not heal properly." Two concluded and then motioned for three. "Go get some propofol."** (This is a kind of drug they give you to knock you out for surgery. Shout out to my mom and her boyfriend for helping me find the drug that fit the description! Thank you guys!)**

Max immediately seized up. _No, no, no._

"You are _not_ knocking me out." She said scooting away from the doctor. Fear in her eyes. The last time she was put under for surgery, thanks to Dylan, she'd woken up during it with a scalpel centimeters from her skin. Max shook from the memory.

One looked at her with sympathy and Fang shielded her from the doctors. He knew how much she was scared of surgery and hated hospitals. If it wasn't for Fang being in the room with her, she would be majorly freaking out.

Hospitals smelled like death and rubbing alcohol mixed with sickeningly sweet air fresheners. They were filled with death and dying and the injured. Medicines and dripping IV bags. Blood and needles. Knives and donated organs. Beeping machines and white lab coats. Hospitals were like haunted houses.** (I am scared of haunted houses more than anything else in the world, they freak me out really badly, I don't even have to be in one to be freaked out by it)**

"Okay, then," Two replied and then addressed Three. "Watson, go get some morphine."

He nodded and then scampered off.

Max let out a sigh of relief. Pain shot through her, but it was bearable. Fang sat down next to her, his forehead was creased in worry.

She rolled her eyes and tried to act calm for his benefit. "I'm okay." She said with a fake exasperated voice. Of course he saw straight through it, raised an eyebrow and frowned.

Max let her shoulders drop in defeat. "Okay, it hurts a bit, but I'm going to be okay."

He gave a half smile. _Now that's the truth._ It said.

Max replied in the most immature way possible. She stuck her tongue out at him. He grinned from ear to ear. The most intelligent response ever? _No._ Worth all the teasing she was going to get from him later about it? _You betcha, as long as he keeps smiling like that._

A few minutes later Thr—Watson came back in with the morphine…in a syringe. _Please, anything but a syringe. _Max gulped and tensed up. Fang wrapped his arms around her, sensing her distress. Max _hated_ needles. She scooted away from Two as Watson gave her the morphine.

Two could see her anxiety as well.

"I'm sorry about this, I can tell you don't like needles either, but it's either this or we put you under." She said.

_The needle or possibly waking up during surgery again?_ Max mused, then a sudden flashback of groggily waking up surrounded by people in mint colored scrubs with a knife over her came to mind and made the decision easy. _I'd choose the needle any day._

Max nodded. "I'll take the morphine." She scooted over to the doctor cautiously. Fang continued to hold onto her.

"Give me your arm." The doctor said, Max gave the woman her arm and turned away into Fang's chest. She rested her head on him and he rubbed relaxing circles between her shoulder blades. She sighed internally. It would be perfect if she wasn't about to be stabbed by a needle.

There was a spike of pain and then a nasty burning sensation in the veins of her arm. Max gritted her teeth and gripped the back of Fang's shirt with her free hand. _Damn that hurts!_ **(Warning! About to get really weird!)**

Then, just as suddenly as the pain appeared it vanished, replaced by this oddly lightheaded, happy feeling. She grinned at Fang, imagining him on a purple unicorn.

"What?" He asked. _Silly Fang, what's are for…what are what's for? No, it's silly rabbit, tricks are for kids. But Fang isn't a rabbit, is he? _Max thought of Fang in a bunny suit and laughed. _Fang would make a cute bunny…_ She stared up at the lights.

"Mmmmm, Fang, those lights are pretty…" She said, curling up into his arms.

"Ummm, okay Max." He replied. Max burst out laughing. _He's so funny. He should be a funny guy…what do they call those guys anyway? There's a name for them isn't there? _Max thought long and hard on it for about ten seconds. _Ah, well, whatever, I guess they don't have a name for them…_

"Faaaaang?" She whined for no reason, she just felt like she should be whining.

"Max?" He asked. His face looked like it was glowing.

"Are you an angel? Because you're reeeeeaaaaaaallllllllly pretty…only angels are that pretty…" She asked, she could swear she could see a halo over his head. She reached out and tried to catch it. He grabbed her hands and brought them down.

"Max are you okay?" He asked, his forehead crinkling.

"I'm better than okay…I'm an astronaut…" She replied. Fang turned to the mint colored people in the room. _Wow, I didn't know mints talked and moved around…I wonder if they're nice to people? _**(Max thinks the doctors are mints, I just thought that'd be funny)**

Before Max could voice anything however, Fang cut her off. _How rude?_

"What's going on?" He asked one of the mints.

"It's probably just an effect of the drug." The mint replied. _The mint sounds like a lady…it must be a she-mint!_ "It should wear off in a bit, but we should probably proceed with the stitches." _Stitches? What are stitches? They sound fun._

"Max, could you turn around so we can see your back?" The she-mint asked.

"Sure thing, Doctor Mint." Max slurred. She could swear the mint had turned red a bit, but she dismissed it. She had a wild imagination. **(****BFF:**** You don't say?)**

"Okay, don't move please." The mint ordered.

Max frowned. "But what if I need to go to the bathroom?"

The mints all gave short laughs. Max couldn't figure out what was so funny.

"Don't worry." The nervous looking mint said. "It won't take that long."

"Okay!" Max said cheerfully and turned back to Fang, that way the mints could see her back.

"Fangy? Why do you call yourself Fang?" Max asked as she felt the mints poke her with something. It was a bit irritating, but not really.

Fang smirked, his white teeth flashed. _Pretty teeth._ "I got into a fight the day you came to Gatlin's high school for the first time, remember? Ruban was saying some mean things about you, so I punched him and we fought. I bit him, after that everybody started calling me Fang and I liked it, so I stuck with it. Apparently he still has the scar from where I bit him." He said and his eyebrows furrowed. "Don't you remember?"

Max shook her head.

Fang looked over to the one of the mints in distress.

"It's just a temporary effect of the drug." The tall mint said.

Fang seemed to relax a bit, but not by much.

"Fangy?" Max called out.

"What is it, Max?" He said, his voice caring.

"I loooooooooove you," She said and then stretched her arms out wide. "I love you this much!"

Max smiled happily and Fang lit up.

"I love you too Max." He said and then kissed her forehead. _My forehead? Kiss me on the lips you silly goose!_

"Faaaaang!" She whined.

"Yes, Max?" He asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Why won't you kiss me on the lips, Fang?"

He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss and backed away, leaving Max wanting more.

"Faaaaang! Kiss me longer!"

Fang smirked and gave a short laugh, his eyes lighting up. _He has such pretty eyes…_

"Later, okay?" He smiled.

Max pouted. "No, now!"

Fang raised his eyebrow and smirked, if it was possible, even more. He leaned down and gave her another peck on the lips. Max smiled for a moment reveling in the feeling she got from kissing him and then pouted again remembering how short it was, but she didn't say anything.

"Okay, done." The she-mint called out, Max jumped slightly and then yawned, sudden exhaustion kicking in.

"I'm really tired…" She said, laying into Fang's chest and closing her eyes. She heard the mints shuffling out the door.

"You should let her get some rest," The tall mint addressed Fang. "She'll be back to normal when she wakes back up."

_Normal? Who the eff cares about being normal? Being weird is cool, let the haters hate. I love being weird._

The mint left and Max laid down on the bed. Fang went to get up, but Max's hand shot out and caught his arm.

"Don't go…" She whispered sleepily. "…please stay…"

Fang laid down beside her on the hospital bed. His arm hooked around her neck and brought her close to him. Max sighed contently.

"I'll never leave you." He whispered into her ear. Max smiled and drifted off to sleep.

**A/N **

**Me:**** Okay, I have to admit this chap was **_**really**_** weird, but I just had to do a chap where Max was doped up. You know, another connection to the MR series. Truthfully, I have no idea if morphine makes a person see things or go as crazy as Max does in this chap, but whatever. We're studying drugs in health right now (morphine hasn't been one of those drugs, so far at least), so I thought this would be fun to do. **

**BFF:**** I loved how concerned Fang was for Max! It was so cute! And at the end when Max told him to stay and he said "I'll never leave you." *clutches heart* Ohhh, the feels!**

**Me:**** The feels?**

**BFF:**** Yeah, the feels.**

**Me:**** Yup, definitely imaginary. Gabs would never say that either. She'd say something like "Adorable!" or "Cute!"**

**BFF:**** I. Am. Real. And. If. You. Say. I. Am. Not. Real. Again. I. Will. Hunt. You. To. The. Ends. Of. The. Earth. **

**Me:**** More proof that you are I-M-A-G-I-N-A-R-Y.**

**BFF:**** *war-cry* That's it! *pulls out bow and arrow***

**Me:**** Whoa, whoa, whoa. Settle down there. *raises hands in surrender* No need to get violent.**

**BFF:**** *scary voice* Repeat after me. BFF is real.**

**Me:**** Okay, okay. BFF is real. *mutters* In my head.**

**BFF:**** What was that?**

**Me:**** Oh, nothing.**

**Anyways, speaking of anger management. (Btw, Gabs is almost never angry, she's always really nice, so BFF is a bit like her crazed twin, except Gabs doesn't have any siblings) **_**TheNightOwl13**_** I loved your review, don't worry, your secret is safe with me ;) I like living, though I appreciate that if I did tell that you wouldn't kill me till my story was finished. **

_**SilenceIsAwesome**_** I love your pen name! Silence is awesome! I'm glad you figured out your password! Thank you so much! Oh, and you're request was granted ;) but you probably already saw that. **

**Again, sorry **_**Guest**_** for the horribly long wait. Hope you didn't end up dying too much. **

_**Faxforever (Guest)**_** I'm so glad you reviewed. Thank you so much! I definitely plan on writing more MR, I've actually got two more ideas for stories, but I want to refine them better and finish this story before I get to writing those. I agree, Dylan should have been feed to alligators, but I really felt bad for the alligators, so I just couldn't do it, maybe in the funny A/N-like story I was planning on doing?**

**BFF:**** Wow, you wrote a lot! 2,938 words so far, no, wait 2,944, 45, 46, 47… okay, I'm going to stop counting because every time I say how many there are, it adds more to it, and then what I say it is, isn't true.**

**Me:**** Wow! That is a lot, I hope this appeases you guys, especially since I haven't posted in **_**forever**_**, so sorry about that again. **

**BFF:**** See you guys next post!**

**Me:**** Hopefully I'll be able to put it up sooner next time, but I can't make any promises, sorry. See you next post and keep reviewing please!**

(Again, sorry for the long A/N's)


	34. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride…yet. LOL**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! Guess what! I caught a bit of a break so I was able to write!**

**BFF:**** Awesomesauce!**

**Me:**** Hey! You are not allowed to use that word, that's my word!**

**BFF:**** Well, technically I'm in your head so **_**you**_** are using it, not me.**

**Me:**** *eyes narrow* Clever…**

**BFF:**** Now will you admit I'm real?**

**Me:**** Only in my head. Well, continuing on, I'll answer some reviews at the end. I hope you guys like this chap! **

Fang's POV

Fang fidgeted nervously, touching the ring in his pocket with the tips of his fingers. Max was going to be released from the hospital today. He'd spent everyday of the last two weeks with her and he only left her side when Iggy swore that he'd stay with her while he was gone. Fang was sure that Max was getting a bit annoyed with his almost constant surveillance, but she didn't show it.

He just couldn't leave her without worrying about her. He was getting better, he wasn't going into full on panics anymore when he couldn't see her, and Max's continuing recovery helped, but he couldn't help but hear what that little voice in the back of his mind had to say.

_I swear I'm buying her a tazer tomorrow._

Fang would buy it for her today, but today was a special day and he didn't want to ruin it. Max would hate the tazer. 'I can take care of myself.' She would whine, but take it, hopefully, to ease Fang's mind. Then she would taze him with it to get back at him.

_It'll be worth it._ He thought to himself.

_You say that now._ The doubter in the back of his mind said.

_Shut up._

Fang laughed at himself, arguing with himself again, Max would think it ridiculous.

He walked up to the hospital door. Max was waiting on the other side. Fang bit his lip and opened the door, his nerves were getting to him, and he was almost shaking.

The door creaked a bit, announcing his presence. There, sitting on the hospital bed was Max, and across the room sat Iggy. Max smiled. She was dressed in her own clothes. Iggy had brought them to her earlier. Thankfully, for Iggy's sake, Fang had talked him out of bringing her Iggy's 'I Love Boobies' shirt to wear and instead brought her Max's 'Keep Calm and Fly On' T-shirt which she was currently wearing. **(Couldn't resist the T-shirt thing, it was just too fun)** Along with her T-shirt, she wore tattered jeans and black converse.

Fang smirked. "Nice shoes."

"I could say the same." Max winked and pointed to Fang's own black converse.

Fang couldn't help but play along. "Oh, so that's why I like yours so much."

"Is that all you like?" Max teased, attempting to hide a grin.

Fang took a thinking pose. "Hmmmm." He replied playfully. "Give me a minute."

Max smiled from ear to ear and let a small laugh out. Fang mirrored her joy and scoped her up in his arms. She screamed out in delight as he spun her around. His heart filled with love for her.

"Max," He whispered in her ear setting her down on her feet. "You are my everything and I love everything about you."

She smiled widely and kissed him. They melded together, Fang wrapped his arms around Max's waist and brought her closer to him, and Max buried her hands in Fang's midnight hair bringing his head down to hers.

Then after about five minutes of that there was the loud sound of somebody purposely coughing to get someone else's attention. _Ah, so annoying. Leave us be!_

Max pulled away, and Fang felt like whining, but then Iggy would surely remove his man card for that, so he stayed silent, letting his eyes do the talking for him. Meaning a death glare to Iggy followed by a puppy-dog face at Max. _Yeah, so long man card._

"As much as I am glad that you two are back together and Fang isn't moping around anymore, I don't much care to hear my best friend and sister swap spit. Trust me, hearing it is so much worse than seeing it, and I have a horrible imagination." Iggy said with a smirk, innuendoes out the whazo.

"Eww, Iggy!" Max said, disgusted. "You are such a sexist pig sometimes!"

Iggy just laughed his infectious laugh and soon everybody in the room was laughing like loonies.

"Okay," Max managed, still struggling not to laugh. "Can we go home please?"

Fang smiled and pecked her on the cheek. "Of course, my love." He said as romantically as he could.

Max laughed and hugged him. "I love you, Fang, always and forever." She said gazing up at him.

"Stop!" Iggy yelled out suddenly. "Enough with the sappy lovey dovey stuff!"

"Fine, okay." Fang said to him and then turned to Max with a smile. "We can continue this later."

Max gave a sigh. "Okay." Then she stuck her tongue out at Iggy.

Iggy's eyebrows scrunched up. "I have a feeling you are doing something really rude, Max."

She and Fang both smirked. "Something like that." Fang replied. "Come on, let's go home."

They left the room and walked down the hallway towards the front desk to sign Max out.

Max walked a bit ahead and Iggy fell into step beside Fang.

"Have you asked her yet?" Iggy asked him.

_Have I asked her to marry me yet? Why no, no I haven't. Why? Because I didn't want to ask her to marry me in a hospital room and frankly I'm kind of scared to do it. I mean, what if she says no?_ But that's too much to say so he simply responds by saying: "No."

"Why the hell not?"

Fang gulped. _He's my best friend, might as well confide in him._

"What if she says no?"

"Are you effing kidding me?" Iggy exclaimed. "Of course she'll say yes!"

"Who will say yes to what?" Someone inquired, popping out right in front of them.

Fang jumped and then, noticing who it was, blushed. Max. _Oh, no. She might figure out that I'm going to ask her to marry me. I can't let her figure it out, not yet._

"Ummm, would you like to go to the park with me after we sign you out of the hospital?" Fang asked quickly. Iggy looked at him with raised eyebrows, impressed by his friend's quick thinking. Fang himself was surprised by his own ingenuity.

"Sure, of course." Max said, her eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion, but then she shrugged it off.

They signed Max out. Then she and Fang headed to the park and Iggy to the Ride's house.

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys, so what'd ya think? Please send reviews! Pretty please? With sugar on top?**

**BFF:**** Wander and I are so glad you guys liked loopy Max! **

**Me:**** Yes! It was weird, and fun, to write but I was worried that you guys might not like it.**

_**Njdaphne**_** thank you for telling me that! That definitely explains a lot. Do you think you could sign your name at the ends of you reviews if it isn't too much trouble? I don't want to mix you up with somebody else. **

_**AFanOfFax**_** you are definitely welcome! And good for you telling your stalker off! He offered your younger siblings candy? That's like right out of "Creeping for Dummies". And he shouldn't play with younger kids if he can't control himself enough to play with them the way he should. GO MAMA BEAR! That is freaking awesomesauce what your mom did, that stalker boy stands no chance against an angry mama bear! ;)**

_**Katelyn**_** thank you for reviewing, and being weird is awesome! "Normal is just a setting on the dryer." –I have no idea who quoted this. I'll definitely have to check out your webshow, it sounds pretty interesting, but it might be a while before I get the chance to with school and everything, but I'll try to squeeze in the time.**

_**Dot Ride**_** I'm so glad you liked my story! Yay! I gave you the feels? Awesomesauce! The feels! The feels! ;););););) That is a very interesting way for Dylan to die and I love it! I've never heard of bear sharks, so I'm going to guess that you just came up with that name off the top of your head. If that's the case, you have a great imagination! If not and they are real, then I'm going to feel really dumb. I have something else you can add to the Dylan's death scene you've painted, wrap him in bad bacon, not good bacon, he's not good enough for that. Wrap him in bad, year after the expiration, bacon and then feed him to the alligators and bear sharks. **

_**TheWhoLockedSupernaturalist**_** I'm so glad you caught that! I was just waiting for somebody to catch that! By the way, I was going to give Doc Two the name Holmes, but seeing as I don't plan on the doctors being in the rest of the story, I decided I might as well tell you. Though I will probably find some weird way to include Two, or Holmes, in it later.**

**BFF:**** Okay, so Wander and I need more votes, but on a different topic than last time.**

**Me:**** We didn't get a response from **_**AFanOfFax**_** about this, or a review from **_**SilenceIsAwesome**_** so we fear the worst. Lol, jk. I'm sure you wouldn't go murder **_**SilenceIsAwesome**_**, **_**AFanOfFax**_**. Oh, yeah, btw, PLEASE PUT UP THOSE CHAPTERS **_**AFANOFFAX**_**! *bambi eyes***

**BFF:**** Hey, Wander, back on subject!**

**Me:**** Got it, okay… Ooooohhhh shiny.**

**BFF:**** Wander!**

**Me:**** Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyways, BFF and I would like a vote on whether or not we should put up the surprise bonus chapter at the end. Please review and tell us your votes!**


	35. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

_**Disclaimer:**_** I proclaim that I do not claim Maximum Ride.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey people! THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ANOUNCEMENT! I've gotten a few votes, thank you **_**njdaphne**_**, **_**Guest**_**, and **_**ilikecupcakes**_**, but I need more in order for you guys to get the bonus chap! Come on! I know you can do it!**

**BFF:**** Just click that review button and vote for the bonus chapter!**

**Me:**** Then abra-kadabra **(or however you spell it)** Bonus Chap appears! **(Well, after the story is finished)

**BFF:**** It's as easy as pie!**

**Me:**** Isn't it cake?**

**BFF:**** I think it's pie, but it might be cake.**

**Me:**** Does anybody know? I always get confused on whether or not it's cake or pie with this saying.**

Max's POV** (Overlaps the last chap a bit)**

Max walked quickly down the hallway of the hospital. She was eager to leave this dismal place. Sure the doctors were pretty nice to her, but maybe a little too nice, too sincere, to the point where it was almost annoying. _I'm not some damn charity case! Don't treat me like I'm some unstable little girl!_

Dylan was dead, she was safe. Why in the world would she fall apart now, especially with Fang by her side?

Max walked a few strides ahead of Iggy and Fang who were speaking in whispers. _Probably talking about guy stuff._ Max thought to herself, and tried to ignore their conversation. Keyword: _tried_.

"Why the hell not?" Iggy whisper-yelled to Fang.

Max turned and caught Fang blushing to a bright red shade. _Why's he blushing?_

"What if she says no?" Fang asked her brother worriedly. Max's eyebrows lifted and furrowed in confusion. _What if who says no? _Max didn't like that he seemed to be talking about a girl. **(Uh, oh, here comes oblivious, jealous Max)** But Iggy was her brother, he'd murder Fang if he found out he was in a relationship with another girl. **(Bye, bye jealous Max)** So _who_ were they talking about?

Iggy seemed to explode. "Are you effing kidding me? Of course she'll say yes!"

Max couldn't help it anymore. She needed to know what they were talking about.

"Who will say yes to what?" She asked the two of them, they both jumped and blushed. Fang reddened far more than Iggy. _Hmmmm…_

"Ummm, would you like to go to the park with me after we sign you out of the hospital?" Fang asked her quickly, surprising Max slightly.

"Sure, of course." She replied, a bit confused by Fang's behavior. _Was that what he was talking about with Iggy?_ He wanted her to go to the park. _But what for?_ She shrugged it off, she was just being curious. She would find out when she got to the park. Though trying to find out along the way wouldn't be a bad idea…

They walked up to the front desk and there they met the nurse.

"What can I do for you?" She asked after she finished talking to another patient.

"We need to sign Maximum Ride out." Iggy said with a business-like tone.

"Okay." The nurse said, typing away at her computer. "Maximum Ride?" She repeated back to him.

"That's right." Iggy replied.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard once more. She then she took a paper and pen from her desk and gave them to Iggy. "I'll need you to sign this and then you can be on your way." **(I'm pretty sure signing out of the hospital is more complicated than that, but whatever)**

"Umm, hey, Max?" Iggy said, turning to his sister.

"Yeah?"

"Can you show me where to sign?" Iggy asked, a bit ashamed.

"Of course." Max said giving Iggy the pen and guiding his pen-wielding hand to the line at the bottom of the paper where he scribbled his name.

"Thanks, sis." He smiled to her. "Don't know what I'd do without you."

Max grinned taking the paper and signing her own name bellow Iggy's. "You'd probably be somewhere blowing up something that you shouldn't."

Iggy laughed and Fang smiled broadly as Max handed the paper back to the nurse. "Like your Mickey Mouse alarm clock?" Iggy said mischievously.

Max whirled around on him. "You didn't!"

"Oh, yes I did." Iggy smirked.

"You jerk!" Max yelled and lunged at him, only to be caught half-way by Fang.

"Love you too!" Iggy said running out of the crowded hospital waiting room.

"Come back here!" Max yelled after him.

"No way, Jose! I'll see you after you get back from the park!" He yelled to Max and Fang, giving the two of them a wink before disappearing. _Now what was that for?_

Fang kissed Max on the cheek lovingly, causing all of her anger toward Iggy to melt away. She smiled and turned to him, giving him a brief kiss on the lips.

"Let's go to the park." She whispered to him, eager to find out what Fang had to talk to her about.

Was it a surprise? _Stupid subconscious, it's obviously a surprise you dipstick._ Or a box of chocolates? _Uh, oh, those cravings can mean only one thing. Love you so much mother nature, _**not**. Maybe he's going to take Max somewhere romantic? _Shut up! Sheesh! I want it to be a surprise! Or at least get to interrogate him about it._ So it is a surprise!

Max mentally facepalmed. She was having an argument with herself. _I should be admitted to an asylum._

Fang grasped her hand and lead her out of the waiting room and into the fresh air.

Max breathed in deeply and immediately she felt refreshed. The sun shone down upon her face, its rays warmed her skin and she smiled, closing her eyes to feel the warmth more greatly. Her fingers squeezed Fang's tightly, letting him know that she was happy. Fang squeezed her fingers back in return.

She opened her eyes and looked over to him. Fang looked at her brightly, his black hair swept across his forehead and his obsidian eyes were warmer than the sun. She smiled to him as they headed for the park.

"So..." She said, dragging out the word. "What's this all about?"

Fang looked down at the ground for a second in nervousness and then returned his gaze to Max. "It's a surprise. You'll see." He grinned. His hand buried itself in his pocket.

Max, curious, peered over and tried to see what was in it, to no avail.

"Whatcha got in your pocket, mister?" She asked, taking on a Texan accent.

Fang chuckled. "That's part of the surprise, ma'am." He said replicating Max's accent.

"Do I look like a ma'am to you?" She asked with a wink as they arrived at the park.

"No," He smiled, returning to his own voice. There was a twinkle in his eye. "More like an angel."

Max smiled brightly, but then it faded and she looked down. Her mind drifted and she couldn't help but remember the scars on her back, the ones that Dylan gave her. They had healed, but had only partially disappeared so the message now read: _Pr p rty f Dyl n Su m rs _How could she look like an angel when those horrible bits of the message Dylan had carved into her still remained?

"What's wrong?" Fang asked her, lifting up her chin and staring into her eyes with worry. He was such a good man, the best man she had ever met.

"I'm not beautiful Fang." She replied. She wasn't beautiful, and she most certainly didn't deserve someone like Fang. Nobody ever gets the perfect guy.

"Yes you are." Fang protested, taking both of her hands in his. "You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, inside and out."

Max was nearly to tears. He was so nice to her, so good. How in the world had she ended up with him? How in the world had she gotten so lucky? "But—"

"No buts."

"—Dylan?"

"Dylan was a possessive bastard."

"I know, but…" She couldn't seem to say it so she simply pointed to her back.

Fang was silent for a moment. Max feared the worst. She feared that her scars had affected her relationship with Fang. But then he brought her into hug and kissed the top of her head.

"Oh, Max, those scars could never change my opinion of you." He said and then guided her over to the park bench they had sat on what seemed like so long ago.

He sat her down on the bench and knelt down in front of her on one knee.

"Max?"

"Yes?"

"Max, you're the greatest friend I've ever had. When I'm with you, everything just feels whole, complete, and right, and when I'm not, life is hell. I have loved you from the moment I saw you. I love everything about you, your laugh, your smile, and your sarcastic remarks. I love how we interact, how we joke and how we kiss." He took a breath. "Truth be told, I'm terrified right now, because I'm worried that you don't feel the same. It's okay if you don't, I'll understand, but I have to ask," Fang pulled out a silver and aquamarine ring._ It's beautiful._ She thought to herself, and then realization hit her. It was a wedding ring. Max gasped, her hands found their way to her gapping mouth and covered it. She looked like she was going to cry again, but this time out of joy rather than out of grief. "Maximum Ride, will you marry me?"

It took a moment for her to respond. She was so happy, so ecstatic, she had a hard time finding her own voice. Then Max saw the worry and sadness start to gather in Fang's eyes. She quickly threw her arms around him and found her voice.

"Yes," She cried out in joy. "Yes, Fang, I will."

**BFF:**** YES! FINALLY!**

**Me:**** *smiles***

**BFF:**** Why'd it take you so long?!**

**Me:**** She's been out of Dylan's grasp for what? Three chapters?**

**BFF:**** Exactly.**

**Me:**** *rolls eyes* Well, they're getting married now, doesn't that make you happy?**

**BFF:**** OF COURSE! *gasps* OMZ! Can I help decorate the wedding? Please, please, please?**

**Me:**** Hmmmm, I don't know. You were yelling at me earlier. *hidden smirk***

**BFF:**_**Please!**_** *bambi eyes***

**Me:**** Well, I guess you can help.**

**BFF:**** Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!**

**Me:**** You're welcome *smirks* **

**Anyways, **_**SilenceIsGolden **_**that's really cool!**

_**DntlessAnnabeth**_** I guess you're right, it isn't really a surprise, but I'm not telling you guys what it's going to be about yet, so I guess that's going to be the surprise. **

_**Guest**_** you are so right! Fang does worry too much, but he did get the courage to ask. **

_**AFanOfFax**_** I hope you have fun! Tell me how it's going or went when you get the time. Thank you so much, that makes me feel very good about my story, I'm so glad you like it! That's really good news about your stalker, I hope he stays away for a long time!**

**BFF:**** Thank you, **_**AFanOfFax,**_** I think I'm awesome too! And don't worry Wander plans to write more stories in the future!**

**Me:**_**Sapphira Volkov**_** thank you for sending your mass review! Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I plan to send a detailed reply soon, hopefully by the end of the day. Ucta sounds like an awesome dragon! I'm not sure what to feed my dragon, Norbert, so I'm feeding him a bunch of candy and tacos, what do you feed Ucta? I love your word "saucome" it's pretty awesomesauce. I love being crazy too! Oh, and if you want to learn how to be crazy look up "Keke crazy" on YouTube by **_**yourmom5695**_**. That is one crazy video. Keke is so funny! And you definitely didn't freak me out Sapphira. Please keep reviewing!**

_**Polkadotdaisy**_** I'm glad you like my story! Thank you so much! BFF is sort of real—**

**BFF:**** Ha! You admit it!**

**Me:**_**Sort of**_**. **

**BFF:**** *angry sigh***

**Me:**** Some of BFF is real, her conversations with me are sometimes based off of conversations I have with Gabby, my best friend, as well as a part of her personality.**

**BFF:**** I am NOT Gabby!**

**Me:**** No, Gabby isn't violent, but she is a hopeless romantic, like you BFF.**

**Back on the subject of answering the reviews—**

_**MaxAndFang**_** please don't steal Max's ice cream and blame it on me! I put up the chapter! Please I beg you! ;)**

_**Fuad123**_** I'm glad you like my story! It's almost over though ;_( **

**BFF:**** Well, see you guys next chapter!**

**Me:**** You seem to always say that at the end of the chaps.**

**BFF:**** Well, come up with something new for me to say.**

**Me:**** *takes on theater voice* Farewell, my dear fellows, I hope you fellows liked the chapter and recommend it to your fellows-*theater voice stops* and, umm- *thinking* see you next chapter— *pause* fellows. **

**BFF:**** That's a lot of fellows.**

**Me:**** Yeah…**

**BFF:**** I'm sticking to my old saying.**


	36. Author's Note Number 4

Author's Note Number 4

Hey people! As always, I'm sure this isn't what you want to be seeing right now, but I've got some good news! I started an Instagram account for my stories so if you want to follow me go look up WanderingAngel97 on Instagram. I'll post possible covers for stories, current story stuff, and ideas for future stories. This way I can see what's good and what's not. I'll probably play games on it too for you guys. Please send reviews on Fanfiction with your Instagram account usernames and I'll follow you back!

Wander


	37. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't—Norbert don't eat that! Come back here! That's **_**my **_**candy! *loud crunching noise* And he eats it. *sigh* I don't own MR. *turns and yells* You owe me Norbert! I'm going to start going through your candy stash! *Norbert growls* Or not.**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! Thank you so much for the votes, but the voting booths are still open! So please keep voting! Also thank you to the people who are now following me on Instagram! You guys rock! If you are interested in following me to see new ideas, games, and possible covers for future stories my username is WanderingAngel97, the same as it is on Fanfiction. Hope to see you guys there! For more information on it go look at the last chapter, Author's Note Number 4.**

**BFF:**** Okay, now that we're done with that update—**

**Me:**** Let's play a game!**

**BFF:**** We should play Truth or Dare with the Flock!**

**Me:**** Absolutely!**

**BFF:**** Gang! Get in here!**

**Me:**** Please review and join in! You can ask anyone of us, Max, Fang, Iggy, Ella, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, BFF, or me to either tell a truth or do a dare. (**Though for security reasons, I cannot tell you truths as to what my real name is or where Gabby or I live. My dad is very paranoid about these kinds of things, actually he's who I am basing Jeb off of in this story, but that's off topic. If I told you guys what my real name was or where I live my dad would probably lock me up in a windowless room for the rest of my life with no computer, which would really suck because I wouldn't be able to update.)

**BFF:**** Let the games begin!**

Fang's POV

Max and Fang graduated high school yesterday, and today they were going to get married. Why did they wait? Well, let's just say that was part of the deal Fang made with Max's father when he asked him for his permission to marry his daughter. Now don't hate on Mr. Ride. He had good intentions. He wanted to protect his daughter, and after Dylan, what father wouldn't take precautions?

_I would._

Fang and Max stayed engaged for a year. Everyone gossiped about it at school. Frankly the rumors Bridget Dwyer** (I decided to put her in the story, she's a half a year older than Max and Fang)** would spread about the two of them were disgusting. Thankfully Bridget was notorious as a rumor spreader, so nobody really listened to her.

A few of the rumors were that Max was pregnant with Fang's baby. She wasn't. Max and Fang kissed _a lot_, but they'd never done _that_.

There were other rumors that Max was cheating on him, probably started by the girls at school who still wanted to get together with Fang, even though he was _engaged._ This annoyed him to no end. How could anybody stoop so low?

Fang never believed the rumors, not because he was cocky and stuck up, but because he trusted Max. She wouldn't put him through that. She loved him. He knew that, and she knew that he loved her.

Of course there were also rumors that Fang was cheating on Max, most of those were started by Sam, the school jock. He's been after Max ever since he moved here, which was about nine months ago. He even brought flowers to her house and asked her if they could go on a date. Fang seethed at the thought of it. She'd said no, of course, but she was still nice to him. Though, she did admit to Fang, in private, that Sam was creeping her out.

The day after that at baseball practice Fang was on the pitcher's mound and Sam was catcher. Fang threw the ball just a little too fast and—well, let's just say Sam was doubled over in pain clutching the family jewels by the end of it.

Fang smirked at the memory. _Good times._

There were those days, in the months after their engagement, when Max, the great, mighty, powerful, unbreakable Max, would come over to his house crying her heart out. She had horrible nightmares about Dylan and Fang. They would wake her up in the middle of the night and she would rush over to make sure it had all been a dream. To make sure Fang wasn't dead.

After a while Max's father, distressed by Max's screams that would wake him in the middle of the night, decided to allow Fang to sleep over at the Rides' house, as he seemed to be the only one who could comfort her. Of course, like any good father, he made the two sleep in the living room and made sure they fell asleep before heading to bed himself, leaving the bedroom door open to keep an eye on them.

Those were the most rest-filled nights of Fang's life.

Fang worried about Max too, but unlike Max, he had a spy living in her house to look after her, A.K.A Iggy. Though he had to admit, he felt better when he was with her himself, watching over her.

Now, today, the day he and Max had been waiting for was finally here. Today was the day they were going to get married. Fang couldn't help but grin like an idiot as he headed for the chapel with Iggy, his best man, in the side seat of his Mustang.

The car came to a stop at a red light. Fang's mind wandered to Max and he imagined her in that white wedding gown. He sighed contently. _Beautiful._ In his mind, she twirled around, catching the light from the sun and gleaming like a rare jewel. He closed his eyes, taking in the full picture.

"HONK!" The car behind them growled angrily.

Fang opened his eyes and saw that the light was green. _Oops. Sorry._ He moved forward and continued onward to the church.

"Dude, quit fantasizing about my sister, it's creepy." Iggy complained loudly.

"How do you know I'm fantasizing about her?" Fang inquired with a smile on his face.

"Who else would you be sighing like a hopeless romantic for?"

"Good point."

Fang turned right down the street. There was about a half a mile's distance between the chapel and where they were.

"Anyways, why can't I fantasize about her?" Fang asked, taking a left down another street. "I love her. She loves me. We're engaged, and we're about to get married."

"Well, first of all, we're driving and your fantasies could wind us up in the hospital if your not paying attention to the road, which you aren't.—" Iggy began.

"Hey, I'm paying attention now!" Fang protested.

"No, you are arguing with me now." Iggy replied. "Second, you are _getting _married. You're not married yet, save those fantasies for the honeymoon—"

"Hey! Dude, no. I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking about how beautiful she was going to be in her dress." Fang said, pulling into the church parking lot.

"Oh." Iggy intelligently **(haha lol)** replied. "Well, I was going to say 'Third, I'm her brother.' Or something like that, but in this case I'll just say: She will look awesome, but save fantasizing about her for when you are in the passenger seat, not the driver's. It'd be a shame if you didn't make it to the wedding on time because you got in a car wreck, which reminds me, we have about twenty minutes to get you fully ready so hustle your butt on up there."

Fang and Iggy got out of the car and ran up to the church. Most of the guests had already arrived. Fang flung on his black jacket. His dress shirt, tie, and pants were already on.

That's all he needed right? Just the suit and he was ready to go. _Oh, no. No, no, no._ He was supposed to be here forty minutes ago so Nudge could dress him up like a Barbie doll. But Fang had _accidently_ lost track of time.

Who could blame him? Nudge was scary when she was playing dress-up.

They burst through the doors and were immediately met up with the Motormouth herself.

"Where the heck have you two been?" She yelled at them, catching the attention of a few guests. Fang guided them to the back of the church where they could speak more privately.

"I have been looking for you guys for over an hour!" Nudge whisper-screamed at them.

"Hey, we were only supposed to get here forty minutes ago." Fang pointed out.

"Exactly! You're late!" Nudge fumed. "Now get back to the dressing room so I can get a look at you."

She led the boys to another room and immediately began her work on them, starting with Fang.

Nudge brushed his hair hurriedly and roughly. "Ow!" Fang complained.

"If you had gotten here earlier I could have taken my time." She reminded, finishing with his hair and turning him around abruptly. She ran her hands down his jacket quickly, smoothing it out, and then she turned around and picked up a white rose.

She quickly and precisely pinned it to his jacket. Then she took a step back to observe him. She nodded to herself. "Perfect!" She exclaimed before pushing Fang out of the room. "Now go, get to the altar! And remember, no funny business! Don't go trying to catch a peek at Max in her wedding dress, you'll bring bad luck!"

Fang rolled his eyes at her and left the room. He didn't believe in superstition. Though he would never walk under a ladder, what if it broke? Fang didn't like ladders. They teetered too much for his liking.

He smirked to himself and then headed for the other dressing room, where Max would be.

Bad luck? Fang didn't believe in bad luck, in fact he didn't really believe in luck at all. Or at least he didn't believe in the notion that certain superstitious acts could bring either bad or good luck.

After all, he _did_ believe that he was the luckiest man on earth.

Why? Because he had Max, and Max was everything.

**A/N**

**Me:**** So tell me what you think guys! Btw Happy Birthday Katelyn! Hope you have a great day!**

**Max:**** I can't believe you are making us play Truth or Dare!**

**Fang:**** Can't you call it off?**

**Me:**** Nope *popping the p***

**Fang:**** Please?**

**BFF:**** Is the dark and emotionless Fang **_**begging**_**?**

**Fang:**** *death glare***

**BFF:**** *theater voice* Your death glares have no effect on me! For I am invincible!**

**Me:**** BFF?**

**BFF:**** *returns to normal voice* Oh? Yeah, Wander?**

**Me:**** Are you practicing for Broadway?**

**BFF:**** No. I'm being funny.**

**Me:**** Okay.**

**BFF:**** *mutters under breath* Heckler.**

**Me:**** Huh? What was that BFF?**

**BFF:**** Nothing.**

**Me:**** Well anyways, please review, check out my account on Instagram, and don't forget to play Truth or Dare!**

**BFF:**** We'll see you next chapter!**

**Me:**** That saying is seriously getting old!**


	38. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

_**Disclaimer:**_** Maximum Ride is not mine and neither is *sniffle sniffle* Fang. **

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys! I hope you guys like this chapter! This will be the last 'official' chapter and the next will be the bonus chapter.**

**BFF:**** Now onto Truth or Dare. Wander! You're up first. **_**Njdaphne**_** dares you to update faster.**

**Me:**** Done! Did it as fast as I could. *smiles* Next dare, Max! This one is from **_**AFanOfFax**_**. "I dare Max to let Nudge dress her as a fairy."**

**Max:**** *pales***

**Nudge:**** Yes! *drags Max into her top secret dress up studio***

**Max:**** Fang! Help me!**

**Fang:**** Sorry, Max. No can do.**

**Max:**** Jerk!**

***five minutes later***

**Max:**** *comes out with Tinker Bell costume on, very pissed off* Next dare! *picks up card* **_**Fang.**_** *malicious glint in her eye***

**Fang:**** This can't be good.**

**Max:**_**Lolajam77**_** dares you to sing Call Me Maybe or I'm a Barbie.**

**Fang:**** Ummm, can I forfeit?**

**Me:**** Nope *popping the p***

**Fang:**** *sigh* Okay. *singing* **_**'Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me maybe?'**_

**The Whole Gang:**** *slow clap* **

**Iggy:**** Hey, dude, I think you just gave Jepsen a run for her money *sarcasm***

**Fang:**** *glare***

Max's POV** (Overlaps the last chapter a bit)**

"Finally!" Nudge exclaimed. "They're here!" She pointed out the window at Fang and Iggy rushing towards the chapel. Max couldn't help but smirk. Fang looked so handsome running toward the church in his dress shirt and tie with the end flung over his shoulder and trailing behind him. His hair was tangled and messy, but that was a look he pulled off so well. Nudge would no doubt brush it into oblivion when she got her chance.

"Well, I'm glad at least you were on time Max." Nudge said, already heading for the dressing room door.

Max gave a short laugh. "Thank my parents." If it hadn't been for them, she'd have gotten to the chapel even later than Fang. What could she say? She and Fang were never really good with time.

"I'll be right back. I've got to go fix them up quick since they decided to be _super_ late. Oh, I could strangle those two right now. Do they even know what they put me through sometimes? Probably not—" She closed the door, cutting off the rest of her rant.

Max breathed in deeply. She turned and looked at herself in the mirror. She could barely recognize herself.

The woman staring back at her wore a beautiful white gown. It was sleeveless and the top part of her dress, from the mid-stomach up, was lace with a silk backing. The gown flowed down below that with a natural beauty. Her hair was brushed and tied up in a bun. There were white feathers in it.

Max had the strong urge to undo it and let her hair free. She wasn't used to her hair being so neat and tidy. But she resisted, her hair actually looked good like this. Though she had to admit it would probably never look like this again, unless Nudge duct taped her to a chair that is.

She twirled around, testing the dress, and how it worked. She hadn't worn dresses since her mother finally let her dress herself, so she was quite unfamiliar with them, and normally she wouldn't be caught dead in a dress, but this was different, this was her wedding dress.

"You look beautiful." A voice said from the shadows.

Max whipped around, almost tripping on the dress. _See? This is why I don't wear them._

Hands came out of nowhere and steadied her. She panicked for a moment and then realized who it was. Fang.

"Thanks." She said with a smile. Then her eyes went big and she started pushing him toward the door.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Fang said trying to calm her down. "What is it?"

"You're not supposed to see the bride before the wedding, Fang! It brings bad luck!" She said, her heart racing. They didn't need anymore bad luck than they'd already had.

Fang gently took her hands. "If it makes you feel better I'll close my eyes." He said with a mischievous smile, leaning down to kiss her.

"It's too late, you've already seen me! Now we're going to have bad luck forever!"

Fang kissed her softly and then spoke. "Oh, Max, you know I don't believe in any of that superstitious crap."

Max leaned into him, pressing her ear to his hard chest and listening to his heartbeat. Strong and steady.

"Then what do you believe in?" She asked him in a whisper, looking up into his eyes.

He met her gaze, smiled and answered. "I believe in us."

Max smiled. "Oh, so original." She said sarcastically.

He smirked in return. "Would you have me any other way?"

She shook her head. "No, then you wouldn't be the man I fell in love with."

He leaned down to kiss her and she rose up on her tip-toes to meet him (Max refused to wear high-heels, much to Nudge's disgruntlement).

Oh, yeah, speaking of Nudge…

"FANG! What in the world do you think you're doing!" Nudge yelled at the top of her lungs. She was in the doorway standing next to Iggy who smirked, imagining what Fang and Max were doing. "You're going to mess up all of my good work and you're going to bring bad luck too! I told you that you weren't supposed to see the bride before the wedding! I told you it would bring bad luck! Now get out and get your butt up to the altar before I do something I'll regret because Max will kill me for doing it!"

Max gave Fang the 'I told you so' look. Fang merely grinned as Nudge grabbed him and dragged him out the door muttering under her breath.

"I'll see you at the altar, my love." He called out as Nudge slammed the door in his face.

She turned back to Max and glanced at her watch. "Okay, let's see. I've got what? Fifteen minutes? Let's see if I can fix this."

**-About 10 Minutes Later-**

Angel skipped down the aisle, tossing rose petals here and there. She was having quite a bit of fun. Then she turned and tossed some petals at a large bag on the floor. A little, furry, black head popped out, her dog, Total. She quickly stuffed his head back down into the bag and resumed throwing the petals about.

Max stood at the end of the aisle and for the first time, she was feeling nervous. Her hands shook slightly. _What if I trip? What if I accidently say something wrong? What if I make a fool of myself?_

Jeb seemed to notice Max's anxiety and took her arm. "Max?" He asked her, getting her attention.

"Yes, Daddy?" She asked him nervously, she hadn't called him Daddy in a long time, not since before Dylan. Jeb smiled at his reinstated position.

"Did I ever tell you that I accidently put your mother's wedding ring on the wrong finger at our wedding?"

Max laughed a bit and smiled. "You did?"

"Yeah, I noticed right after I did it, and your mother did too. I was so embarrassed, red as a tomato with a sunburn." Jeb smiled. "And guess what?"

"What?"

"Your mother kissed me anyway." He answered. "You see? It doesn't matter what mistakes you might make. That boy is going to love you no matter what, you remember that."

Max smiled and hugged her father. "I will. I love you Daddy."

"I love you too, honey." He said, hugging his daughter back. "Are you ready?"

Max nodded, releasing him. "I'm ready."

Jeb took her by the arm and led her down the aisle towards Fang who smiled from ear to ear.

She carefully took her steps at first, but once she saw Fang, the steps became more fluid and natural. Fang took away all her worries, he took away all the pain, and he took away the nightmares that had plagued her. He was her hero, he was her guardian, he was her love, and he was her future.

Jeb let her go as she stepped up to the altar and faced her soon to be husband. They took each other's hands and the priest began to speak, but his words seemed distant, almost indistinguishable.

"Fang," Max began as she heard the priest's voice cease to sound. "You are the best friend I have ever had. You make me laugh and take away all my worries. You are genuine and have never lied to me. When I'm with you, I can be myself. When I'm with you, I am alive. When I'm with you, I am home. **(I bet you read this in Dori's voice, didn't you?) **You made my world a better place, you saved me. You stole my heart, but I don't want it back. It's yours and yours alone. I love you."

Fang smiled and brought her in closer.

"Max, you had me from the moment I saw you." He smiled. "You are the most beautiful person I have ever met, inside and out. You don't pretend. You are who you are. You are genuine, truthful, and pure. You are my best friend. I have never opened up to anyone the way I do for you. You are my sun, without you my world is dark without warmth or light. My heart is forever yours. I love you."

"I promise to always love and cherish you," Max vowed. "In sickness and in health, in times of peace and turmoil and as we grow old and have children of our own, I will be by your side through it all."

"I vow to cherish you every day of my life," Fang promised. "I vow to love you always, in sickness and in health, good times and bad, when we become parents, and as we grow old."

Max and Fang smiled to each other and leaned in close together as Gazzy, the ring bearer, came forward with the wedding rings.

The priest coughed a bit, bringing attention to himself. "Fang Martinez, do you take Max for your lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health till death do you part?"

"I do." Fang said, his voice strong and certain as he took the silver and aquamarine wedding ring from Gazzy and slid it onto her finger. Max smiled and gazed up into his eyes.

"Maximum Ride, do you take Fang for your lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health till death do you part?"

"I do." Max said with happy certainty, taking Fang's black and silver wedding band from the ring bearer and sliding it onto Fang's finger. He grinned and they held hands once more. **(**_**Njdaphne**_** crying happy tears)**

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Fang leaned down slowly and kissed her softly. Slow at first but quickly becoming more passionate and faster. Then after what seemed like only a few short seconds, but was really actually a couple minutes, Iggy called out:

"Hey! If you guys are done can we go to the reception? I'm dying for some cake!"

Max smiled against Fang's lips. "Come on," She said. "We better make sure he doesn't go blow something up."

"I wasn't aware that we had children yet." Fang whispered to her with a grin.

Max laughed. "Not yet, but we're still babysitters."

"I heard that!" Iggy yelled to them.

"I know you did, Iggy!" Max called back.

Fang gave a smile and then led Max out of the chapel, towards their new life.

**A/N**

**Me:**** So what did you guys think of that as an ending to the story? Don't worry, I'm still going to be putting up the bonus chapter. I just want some feed back so please review and follow me on Instagram at WanderingAngel97.**

**BFF:**** Okay, so back to the dares. **

**Me:**** Here's some from **_**AFanOfFax**_**. "I dare Fang to wear all bright colors for a day."—**

**Fang:**** *groans***

**Iggy:**** Come on pretty boy, go get some cheerful colors on you emo.**

**Fang:**** *goes to his room***

**Me:**_**AFanOfFax**_** also dares Gazzy and Angel to tell the most devious thing they've ever done.**

**Gazzy:**** I bleached Fang's clothes and then dyed them pink.**

**Fang:**** *comes into the room wearing all pink* What the freaking hell?**

**Angel:**** I Jedi mind tricked Max into giving me all of her cookies.**

**Max:**** WHAT?!**

**Angel:**** Whoops.**

**BFF:**** You better run now.**

**Angel:**** No, wait. *waves hand in front of Max's face* I am not the Avian American you are looking for.**

**Max:**** *mystified expression* You are not the Avian American I'm looking for.**

**Angel:**** Works every time. **

**Me:**** Okay, **_**AFanOfFax**_** dares Nudge "to lock herself in the closet with Gazzy with tacos for thirty minutes."**

**Nudge:**** What? Are you trying to kill me?**

**BFF:**** I suggest you hold your breath for as long as you can.**

**Me:**** Last one from **_**AFanOfFax**_**, Iggy. "I dare Iggy to sing a love song to his sweetheart."**

**BFF:**** Which one? He has so many in these fanfictions.**

**Me:**** Let's go with the original. Ella. **

***Ella appears***

**Iggy:**** *gulps* Okay, okay. *singing***_** 'When life leaves you high and dry I'll be at you door tonight if you need help, if you need help. I'll shut down the city lights, I'll lie, cheat, I'll beg and bribe to make you well, to make you well. When enemies are at your door I'll carry you away from war. If you need help, if you need help.'**_(Gone, gone, gone by Phillip Phillips)

**Me:**** Why'd you stop? That was amazing!**

**BFF: ****Way better than Fang.**

**Fang:**** Thanks BFF. *sarcasm***

**Me: ****Okay, last dare. This one is from **_**Guest**_**. It says "I dare Fang and BFF to—" Oh, ummm.**

**Max:**** Spit it out.**

**Me:**** "make out"**

**Max:**** WHAT?!**

**BFF:**** Ouch, my ears hurt**

**Max:**** You are not kissing my husband.**

**BFF:**** One sec, I think I know a way out of this! *goes out to the garage* Come on guys!**

***everybody goes to the garage***

**Fang: ****What are you doing?**

**BFF:**** *draws on large sheet of particle board* Get some tools and helps me cut this out.**

***five minutes later***

**BFF and Fang:**** *hold up the letters O, U, and T* **

**BFF:**** See, we 'made out'**

**Me:**** Well, I hoped you guys liked the chapter and the responses to your dares ;) Please review!**


	39. BONUS CHAPTER!

BONUS CHAPTER!

_**Disclaimer:**_** I don't own Maximum Ride, but I do have an Instagram account! But I don't own Instagram either! **

**My account is under the same name as this Fanfiction account, WanderingAngel97, please go check it out!**

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to update! Please don't kill me!**

**BFF:**** I think everybody is just happy to see that you finally got it up.**

**Me:**** I sure hope so, I don't want to die.**

**BFF:**** No, definitely not.**

**Me:**** I have a bit of bad news, though, I got so many dares from Truth or Dare that I couldn't possibly put them in one chap. So in the interest of actually getting this chap up, I decided that I would cut out the Truth or Dare from this chap. I will try to answer some of the Truth or Dare stuff later, but I wouldn't expect it anytime soon. Sorry guys!**

**BFF:**** Well, let's not keep them waiting. On with the show!**

Fang's POV

_10 Years Later_

Fang smiled as Max curled into him on the couch, she was asleep. He couldn't blame her for it. They'd both had a very busy day. It had been their children's first day of school, ever. Who knew taking kids to school could be so stressful? School supplies, clothes, shoes, lunchboxes, etc.

Not to mention Shade, their daughter, had almost fallen out of the car on the way to school because she wanted to feel the wind in her midnight hair. She had rolled down the window and all but leaped out of the car, nearly giving both Fang and Max heart attacks. Luckily Max was quick enough to grab her and toss her back in the car. Fang would have gone after her too, but he was driving.

_Thank God Max had wanted to come with me to drop off the kids at school today._

If that wasn't enough, Alex, their son, had a mental breakdown when they got to school and started crying enough tears to fill up a swimming pool.

"I don't wanna go Daddy!" He sobbed, gripping Fang's leg with all his might.

Fang slowly pealed Alex off of him and knelt down, giving the blonde haired little boy a warm embrace. He had the same hair as his mother, beautiful with a bit of curl to it, and of course always messy. Alex gripped his father tightly and wet Fang's shirt with his tears.

"Hush, hush, Alex." Fang said soothingly as his wife gave an excited Shade a giant mama bear hug. "It's going to be okay, don't you worry. You're going to have lots of fun here and meet new kids. We'll be back before you know it and you can tell Mommy and me all about your day."

"But what if the other kids don't like me?" Alex asked, trying to wipe away the tears that flooded his face.

"What human being wouldn't like Alexander Martinez?" Fang asked him with a smile, trying to cheer his son up.

"I know Stacy doesn't like me." Alex mumbled, looking down at his blue shoes.

"Well then, I guess Stacy must be a space alien." Fang grinned. Alex laughed, and instantly his tears halted.

"I don't think she's an alien, Daddy." Alex smiled as the teacher began to gather the students together for the first lesson of the day.

Fang shrugged. "You never know."

Alex rushed forward and wrapped his arms around his father. "I'm gonna miss you Daddy."

"I won't be gone for long, you'll see."

"Doesn't matter how long it is, I'll still miss you." Alex said, squeezing tighter before letting go and hugging Max.

Shade came over and gave Fang an enthusiastic hug.

"You two look after each other, okay?" Max commanded.

"We will!" Shade called out, dragging Alex over to the rest of the class.

Hours later, after having picked up Alex and Shade from school, Fang and Max had sat on the couch together to watch a movie. The Hunger Games.

Fang remembered loving that book series when he was younger, and the movie was his favorite by far, but now that he was a parent, it had become more of a horror show than a favorite film.

He soon turned it off and shut down the television.

_Too much for one day._ He thought to himself.

Max had fallen asleep during the movie and unconsciously shifted into him, making herself more comfortable. Fang bent down and lightly kissed the top of her head. His arms curled around her, shielding her from harm, the way he'd fallen asleep every night of their marriage.

Dylan might have died, but the fear didn't, it kept on living, no matter how much they tried to squash it out. Max wasn't the only one to have nightmares about what had happened all those years ago. He still feared waking up to his wife missing, he'd still have nightmares of her being trapped, raped, and killed by the monster, but being with her helped, holding her helped.

Max shifted in his arms.

"Mmmmmm, Fang?" She asked groggily, too tired to open her eyes.

"I'm here, baby." He said quietly into her ear, brushing aside her hair. She smiled lazily and hugged him around his midsection.

"I love you." She whispered to him.

"I love you too." He said, rubbing her slightly bulging stomach lightly. "How's the baby?"

"She's doing fine." Max said, half-awake.

"How do you know our baby's a girl? Could be a guy, you know?" Fang teased.

Max smirked. "I know because I'm the one carrying her."

"That's like saying 'because I said so'" Fang jested.

"Fine…" Max said, giving a long pause so Fang thought victory was his. "Our baby is a girl because I say she's a girl."

Fang sighed and saw Max open her eyes, giving a satisfied smirk. He buried his head into her neck, smiling against her skin as he took in her scent.

"What if we have twins?" He whispered.

"Well, then we would have to call them Fred and George."

Fang gave a small laugh and ran his hand lightly down her back.

"Fred and George?" He asked her.

"I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and don't you deny that you are too."

"No, it's just that those are boy names, I thought you said we were having a girl." He teased with a smirk.

In reply, Max stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh, so mature." He laughed which made her laugh too. What could he say? His laugh was contagious, and it had become more common as the years went by.

Max kissed his lips and he sighed contently, kissing her back. Then just as the kiss began to intensify, Max drew back. Fang let out a protesting whine. "Maaaaax! Please?"

"Oh, you big baby," She laughed, kissing him once more, lightly on the lips. "You are just as bad as Iggy when I take away his explosives."

"That man does love his explosives." Fang agreed kissing her neck.

"And Nudge." Max added smiling.

"Yeah, when is he going to man up and ask her out?"

"In a bazillion years." Max sighed, sadly.

"Maybe I should talk to him."

"I don't know, Iggy's pretty shy." Max said hesitantly.

"Iggy? Shy?" Fang said, the doubt noticeable in his voice.

"Around girls, yes." Max answered.

Fang raised an eyebrow. _And I'm the Easter Bunny._

Max sighed. "Okay, around girls he likes." Fang still looked disbelieving. "Trust me, I'm his sister."

"We should just set them up or something."

"Now you sound like Nudge." Max laughed.

"Well, you know, sometimes she's right." Fang replied. His cheeks reddened a bit. He did sound like Nudge. _Time to revoke my missing man card._ He thought to himself.

Max looked up and yawned in his face. Fang grinned. Max looked absolutely adorable when she yawned. _Another month long suspension of the man card for using the word adorable, so not manly. _

_Whatever, who really cares about some dumb, imaginary "man card"?_

"Is Mommy ready for bed?" He teased, sitting them both up. It was getting late. They should already be _in_ bed. Tomorrow would begin early, waking up the children, making their lunches, and taking them to school, not to mention going to work.

"Yes!" Max said with sleepy enthusiasm.

Fang slid his hands underneath her and lifted Max up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into his shoulder. Her breath tickled the hairs on his neck, sending shivers through him as he carried her up the stairs and into their bedroom.

Once inside he made his way over to the bed and set his wife down gently before placing the sheets over top of her. He then laid down on the bed beside her and once more wrapped his arms around her. Her hand wove around one of his arms and she scooted over, closer to him. Fang turned his head and kissed the top of Max's golden head.

"I love you, Max." He said softly into her ear.

"I love you too, Fang." She whispered back to him.

**A/N**

**Me:**** Hey, so what did you think of the bonus chapter? **

**BFF:**** Eeeeeeee! I hope Max and Fang have twins! They better call them Fred and George!**

**Me:**** What if they had twin girls? What would you call them then?**

**BFF:**** Fredetta and Georgia or something like that.**

**Me:**** *laughs* **

**Well I hope you like how the Bonus Chapter turned out. Please review and tell me what you think about it!**


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